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| A security officer inspects the premises of Mahabodhi Mahavihara with a metal detector after the July 7 blasts |
The National Investigation Agency has stepped up its hunt for 10 Indian Mujahideen operatives, some of them suspects in the Patna and Bodhgaya serial blasts.
The agency furnished a list of 10 suspected Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives to the Mahabodhi Mahavihara temple management committee. Their photographs too were submitted.
The list names the outfit’s Pakistan-based founder and Karnataka resident Riyaz Bhatkal, Md Shajid (UP), Mohsin Ismayil Choudhary alias Sayyed (Hyderabad), Md Khalid (UP), Aziz Khan (UP), Amir Reza Khan (Gaya), Abdul Shubhan Qureshi alias Taukir (Maharashtra), Shaukat Ali (Jharkhand), Taufique (Jharkhand) and Hyder Ali (Jharkhand).
National Investigation Agency (NIA) sources said a reward of Rs 10 lakh each had been announced for information on Md Shajid, Md Riyaz Bhatkal, Md Ismail Choudhary, Md Khalid, Ariz Khan and Amir Reza Khan. A reward of Rs 25,000 each would be given for information on remaining members of the banned outfit.
The Delhi NIA court issued arrest warrants against the top IM operatives for their involvement in serial blasts in different parts of the country. Two of them, Taufique and Hyder Ali, are accused in the October 27 Patna serial blasts.
Bodhgaya Temple Management Committee (BTMC) secretary Nangzey Dorjee confirmed the NIA has sent the list of suspected persons. Although BTMC has posted some of the sketches outside its office, Dorjee said the committee has not got any direction from the district civil and police officials in this regard.
Another BTMC member, Arvind Singh, said: “It seems NIA is about to reach a conclusion in the Bodhgaya blasts case after four months. Earlier, on July 16, NIA had released two sketches of suspects and appealed to residents to give information about them.”
The sketches were released on the basis of information given by residents. Sources said most absconders were close associates of Yasin Bhatkal and Asadullah alias Haddi, arrested from Raxaul on the India-Nepal border on August 29.
