A key suspect in the 2002 attack on the American Center in Calcutta was arrested from Gaya district late on Friday night in a joint operation by the police forces of three states investigating the terror strike on the establishment that then served as the US consulate in the eastern metropolis.
Members from the Gujarat and Jharkhand anti-terrorism squads (ATS) aided by the Bihar police arrested the suspect, Mohammad Sarwar, from his native village Dharmuchak under the jurisdiction of Nimchak Bathani sub-division of Gaya district, around 140km southeast of Patna. Sarwar, who once taught in a government school in Gaya, is considered close to Mohammad Imam Hasan, who was arrested from Aurangabad district last year for alleged involvement in the attack.
Sarwar, in his late fifties, was also wanted in connection with the killing of two Pakistani nationals - Salim and Mohammad Zahid - in an encounter with the Delhi police's special cell in Jharkhand's Hazaribagh district, six days after the 2002 attack on the US consulate, then located on Jawaharlal Nehru Road in Calcutta.
The attack on the American Center took place on January 22, 2002, at 6.30am when the policemen were changing shifts. Six policemen were killed and at least 21 were injured. In 2005, seven of the accused, including Aftab Ansari who plotted the attack from Dubai, were convicted and awarded death sentence. Later in 2014, the Supreme Court commuted to life term the death penalty on Ansari and Jamaluddin Nasir, another convict, who happens to be the maternal uncle of Hasan, the Aurangabad native who was arrested on the night of October 2 last year.
Gaya senior superintendent of police (SSP) Garima Malik confirmed the arrest of Sarwar from Nimchak Bathani area of the district on Friday. She, however, refused to share more information on the ground that it was related to the nation's security. "What I can share with the media now is that we only cooperated with the visiting police teams," Malik told The Telegraph.
The raid was carried out at Dharmuchak village, around 40km northeast of Gaya town, following a tip-off given by the Gujarat police ATS that Sarwar was hiding in his native village. The arrest, police sources said, follows disclosures made by Hasan that Sarwar, who was then working as a businessman in Hazaribagh, had helped him (Hasan) get rented accommodation in the Jharkhand town. The sources added that Hasan has claimed he was related to Sarwar.
A senior police official of the Gujarat police said Sarwar had been handed over to the Jharkhand police for interrogation as he was wanted in the case related to the killing of the two Pakistani nationals, Salim and Zahid, on January 28, 2002. "We will take him on remand later," said the IPS officer who spoke under the cover of anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media.
Gujarat police have helped Calcutta police in investigation of this case and have been working to nab all the suspects since the attack.
Both Hasan and Sarwar worked for Aftab Ansari and Jamaluddin Nasir, the key plotters of the attack on the American Center. Sources said Aftab had escaped to Dubai on a passport issued to him from the Patna regional passport office. Aftab had mentioned an address in Biharsharif in Nalanda district in all the relevant documents.
Aftab was later deported to India from Dubai to face trial. The police came to know of Aftab's involvement in the American Center attack from the dying declaration of Zahid, the slain Pakistani national. Aftab was part of the terror outfit Asif Raza Commando Force (ARCF) that reportedly had links with the Harkat-ul-Jehadi-e-Islam. Police suspect both Hasan and Sarwar are members of the Asif Raza Commando Force.
