'ISI moulded two accused'

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) charge sheet in the Bangalore terror module case has alleged a terror conspiracy in Hubli and Bangalore handled by an elaborate network in Riyadh, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, consisting mostly men of South Indian origin.

Of the 15 arrested from Bangalore and Hubli, Abdul Hakeem Jamadar (Bangalore) and Dr Zafar Iqbal Sholapur (Hubli) were the kingpins of the module in Karnataka. The two men had visited Pakistan through Iran in 2011-12 on their regular passport.

The charge sheet – a copy of which is with Deccan Herald – says the duo wanted to go to Afghanistan and fight with the Taliban against the American and NATO forces. But Abdul Rehaman alias Farahatullah Ghori, accused in the Gujarat Akshar Dham massacre, intervened and took them to Karachi.

“The two met some of the senior ISI officials Hamid, Mustafa, Abdul Wahed and also LeT operatives like Riyan. These officials motivated them to collect intelligence and carry out espionage activities in India,” says the charge sheet. They were also trained for the same.
The two had acquaintances with Shoaib Ahmed Mirza alias Chottu, Riyaz Ahmed Byahatti, Ubedulla Bahaddur, Wahid Hussain, Mohammed Sadiq Lashkar and Mehboob Bagalakote, as all of them were members of the Popular Front of India and were actively taking part in its activities at its unit in Hubli. The gang came under the influence of Zakir alias Ustad who motivated them to carry out jehadi activities in the State.

Ustad, in the course of the investigation, was identified as Mohammed Shaheed Faisal, who studied engineering at MS Ramaiah College of Engineering in the City between 2004 and 2008. He was a native of Bangalore. NIA, based on the inputs from the accused, drew his portrait and Ram Reddy of Combat Sports Academy, BTM Layout, identified the man as Shaheed.

Motivated by Zakir and their Pakistani handlers, the accused identified targets to be eliminated in Bangalore, Hubli, Hyderabad and Nanded. In its charge sheet, NIA has mentioned their targets as Pratap Simha; Vishveshwar Bhat of a Kannada newspaper; B Dayananda, the then chief of CCB; D M Krishnamraju, the then DCP (Crime); Nyamegouda, ACP (Ulsoorgate), who have handled terror investigations earlier in the City; Prahlad Joshi, MP, Dharwad; Vijay Sankeshwar, Ganu Jaratarkar of Bajrang Dal in Hubli; Srinivas Reddy, corporator, Saidabad; Rajavardhan Reddy and Raja Singh, leaders of Hindu Vahini; and Sahadev Yadav, corporator from BJP, Kurmaguda in Hyderabad.

The investigations have also revealed that Mohammed Akram also went to Saudi Arabia under the cover of seeking employment as a driver and was the key man in the terror conspiracy.

He went to the Gulf with the help of Mohammed Abdul Majeed of HuJI, presently in Riyadh, brother of another notorious terrorist Shahid Bilal who was gunned down.

Majeed has also been made an accused in the case. He introduced Akram to Siddique bin Osman (LeT operative), a native of Hyderabad, a wanted accused in the Hyderabad terror case who motivated him to carry out jehadi activities in the country.

He also met Mohammed Bhai, an LeT operative wanted in the Sai Baba Temple blast case, Furkhan Bhai of Hyderabad, Dr Imran, Motu Doctor, Dr Osmane Ghani Khan, all natives of Karnataka working for LeT.

Ustad alias Zakir was also present at these meetings held in Riyadh and Dammam where the terror conspiracy was etched out in great detail.

All those mentioned above have been made accused in the case.