Arrested LeT operative wanted to flee to Pak from Nepal in 2010: Investigator

Irfan Ahmad, a key LeT and Indian Mujahideen operative who was recently apprehended by Delhi Police, had planned to flee to Pakistan before he was arrested in Nepal in 2010 for trying to acquire Nepalese citizenship on forged documents.

Ahmad was arrested from Bahraich near Indo-Nepal border on May 7 by the Special Cell of Delhi Police after he fled from a jail in Nepal following last month's devastating earthquake.

"The quake hit Nepal on April 25 and he fled from Sindhupal Chowk jail on April 27. Following this, he went to his home in Bhairwa on April 29. He then went to Nepal Gunj where he stayed for a couple of days with one Moin Ansari whom he had met during his stay at Palpa jail.

"He then crossed the border and reached his native place in Bahraich on April 5 to evade re-arrest in Nepal but was caught by us on April 7," said a senior police officer, associated with the probe into the case.

Ahmad, who is on a 14-day police custody, had been on the run for past 15 years and was also tasked with recruiting Indian youths and sending them to Pakistan for training in handling of arms and ammunition as well as fabrication of IEDs. Investigators said he also worked for Indian Mujahideen.

According to police, to take revenge of Babri mosque demolition, Irfan along with his associates successfully executed bomb blasts on various trains in Kanpur, Hyderabad, Indergarh in Rajasthan, Surat, Lucknow and Gulbarga.

The LeT operative was arrested by the CBI in January 1994 along with militant Jalees Ansari who was also allegedly involved in a series of bomb blasts in trains across India.

Irfan was convicted in 1999 in a case registered by the Special Cell but the trial in the cases lodged by the CBI was pending. In 2001, Irfan was given parole to attend his brother's marriage in Bahraich but he jumped the parole. He had been on the run since then.

"He later fled to Pakistan and in 2010 he got wind that he was being tailed by Indian intelligence agencies. He was planning to flee to Pakistan when he was arrested by Nepal police for trying to acquire Nepalese citizenship on forged documents. He stayed in Kapi Vastu jail for three months.

"Then he was shifted to Palpa jail where he stayed for four years. He was again shifted to Sindhupal Chowk jail from where he escaped on April 27," the official said, quoting Irfan's interrogation report.