IM mastermind Riyaz Bhatkal is operating under this nickname, say investigators; the Pakistan-based terror suspect made calls to rural Pune a week ago

Cops hunting for Shah Rukh... and Salman

IM mastermind Riyaz Bhatkal is operating under this nickname, say investigators; the Pakistan-based terror suspect made calls to rural Pune a week ago

Mastermind: Riyaz Bhatkal

While an Indian Mujahi-deen (IM) sleeper cell has been pin-pointed as the prime suspect behind the Pune bakery blast, Pune cops have stumbled upon an interesting fact.

Riyaz Bhatkal, the brains behind IM, is now operating under the alias Shah Rukh. This came to light when phone calls between Bhatkal and another absconding suspect, Mohsin Chowdhary, were put under the scanner.

"The calls between Mohsin and Riyaz Bhatkal, the founder of IM, were intercepted, as the agencies had already kept the numbers under surveillance. The calls also revealed that Bhatkal was operating under a new name -- Shah Rukh," said an officer on condition of anonymity.

In all, eight phone calls were intercepted on Mohsin's number, and they were traced back to rural Pune. All the calls were made to a number in Pakistan, a week before the German Bakery blast.

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Who is Mohsin?
Mohsin, a Pune resident, u00a0is the mediator between the top bosses and the u00a0other members of the modules. He has been on the run for the past year and a half. He heads the IM's south zone operations and is also behind passing on information to the other members.

A senior Crime Branch officer, who had investigated the IM blasts cases in 2008, said, "Mohsin is the link between Bhatkal and the other members of the module. So, the message passes through him to the other members. He is a mediator."

When asked about his role in the blast, he said, "It cannot be ruled out."

While Mohsin Chowdhary has been identified as the prime suspect in the German Bakery blast, another name that has cropped up is of a youth going by the name of Salman.

Salman is considered to be a close ally of Mohsin and has been an important cog in the resurging Indian Mujahideen machinery. Investigators believe that Salman was a key element in the conspiracy and was instrumental in planning and executing the blast.

However, cops are tight-lipped about the new development and refuse to divulge any further information about Salman. Sources revealed that cops were verifying if this was his real name or an alias used to evade detection.

"During the course of the investigation, certain clues leading to this man have emerged.

We have information that he was working closely with Mohsin and that he was present in Pune during the blast," said an officer on condition of anonymity.

Salman looks after the finance of the south zone that includes Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. However, it is said that he was specially roped in for the Pune operation. Cops are looking for people who can provide clues about his whereabouts.

The Pune police have got hold of the CCTV footage from the site, however, the footage is inconclusive. Two men are seen talking to a waiter and then leaving the spot. Cops suspect that one of the men was Salman.
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Death toll in Saturday's bomb blast rises to 10 after one victim succumbs to injuries.

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