Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence holds sermons twice a month in Dubai to indoctrinate Indian Muslims to the jihadi cause, Zaheed Patni, an accused in the July 28 Ghatkopar blast, has confessed, Mumbai police sources said.
Also see: Police questioning Ghatkopar blast accused
The sermons are delivered on Fridays by ISI-appointed clerics and are attended by a large number of people, Patni is reported to have said.
Joint Police Commissioner (Crime) Satyapal Singh confirmed that Patni mentioned the Friday sermons and the presence of ISI operatives at these meetings during his interrogation.
Sources said Patni enlisted to the jihadi cause after one such sermon and became a regular at the Friday meetings.
It was also at a Friday meeting that he introduced co-accused Hanif to some ISI agents.
The police believe that Hanif not only played a vital role in the Ghatkopar blast, he also masterminded the August 25 twin blasts in Mumbai that claimed over 50 lives.
Patni has also divulged names of some of his colleagues who attended the sermons. Some of them are residents of Mumbai, while others hail from adjoining towns, sources said.
Senior crime branch officials said Patni has also shed light on the operations of the Dawood Ibrahim gang in Dubai and
the information provided by him will be used to interrogate Dawood's younger brother, Iqbal Kaskar, who is in the custody of the Mumbai police.
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