Fasih Mahmood, the terror suspect from Darbhanga Bihar living in Saudi Arabia, Â who has been long waited for deportation to India is under the custody of Delhi Police.
Mahmood is alleged to have been involved in the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium blast in Bangalore and an explosion in Delhi, both in 2010. He is wanted for trial by both Delhi and Karnataka police.
According to police, Mahmood, 35, an engineer from Darbhanga, Â Bihar, was deported from Saudi Arabia. As soon as he reached Delhi airport he was taken into custody.
The accused, employed in Saudi Arabia, was allegedly picked up by Saudi authorities from Al Jubal May 13 and lodged in a Saudi jail June 26 for suspected terror links.
He is alleged to have been involved in the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium blast in Bangalore and an explosion in Delhi, both in 2010. Both Delhi and Karnataka Police were hunting for him to stand trial.
Mahmood is the second terror suspect that Saudi Arabia, home to over two million expatriate Indians, has deported to India. Alleged 26/11 handler Abu Jundal was sent back to India in June, signalling new equations and enhanced security cooperation between New Delhi and Riyadh.
The accused, employed in Saudi Arabia, was picked up by the Saudi authorities from Al Jubal May 13 and lodged in a Saudi jail June 26 for suspected terror links, police said.
“Mahmood was among the five men, including Riyaz Bhatkal, Iqbal Bhatkal, Aamir and Tariq, who transformed the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) into the deadly Indian Mujahideen (IM) almost overnight a decade ago,” said a police officer.
He was allegedly in charge of generating funds in Saudi Arabia and part of the IM’s core team. He studied in Anjuman Engineering College in Karnataka’s Bhatkal.
The Supreme Court May 30 issued notice to the central government on a petition of Mahmood’s wife Nikhat Parveen seeking that her husband, allegedly missing from Saudi Arabia, be traced and presented before court.
Parveen told reporters in Bihar’s Darbhanga district, about 200 km from Patna, that her husband was innocent and his arrest was unlawful. “I will approach the court for justice,” she said.
Reponding to Parveen’s petition, the government earlier told the apex court that the Saudi authorities had informed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) June 26 that Mahmood was under their detention.
Mahmood hails from Barh Saaila village in Darbhanga. His father, Firoz Ahmad, is in-charge of the Benipatti primary health centre in Madhubani district. His mother is a school teacher in Darbhanga, police said.
“The first time we received information about him was during the interrogation of Gauhar Aziz Khomani, one of the six IM operatives arrested from Chennai’s Selaiyur in November 2011,” the police officer said.
Mohammad Tariq Anjuman Hasan, 34, a civil engineer from Bihar and key ideologue of the IM, helped trace Mahmood, police said.
Hasan, who was arrested from Bihar in February, told investigators that while pursuing engineering at a college in Bhatkal in Karnataka in early 2000, he, along with Mahmood, met Bhatkal brothers – Riyaz and Iqbal – the founding members and top commanders of the IM, police said.
The Bhatkal brothers were believed to be based in Karachi in Pakistan, police said.
Both Hasan and Mahmood first become members of the SIMI. By 2003, they were contacted by Aamir Rezza Khan – the man allegedly responsible for the 2002 American Center attack in Kolkata and the kidnapping of Khadim shoes owner Partho Roy Burman in 2001 in the same city.
Reacting to the Mahmood’s arrest, Home Secretary R.K. Singh said: “It is a very important catch.”
The home secretary said that Saudi Arabia had never stated that Mahmood would not be deported but it took some time.
He said Mahmood was a key facilitator for 13 Indian Mujahideen terrorists who were arrested from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi over the last year.
R.K. Singh said India submitted “material evidence” against Mahmood to Saudi Arabia to press for his deportation.
He said Mahmood was deported after he had served a sentence in Saudi Arabia.