IISC attack: A terrorist's stunning revelations

One of Bangalore's notorious traffic jams saved many lives on the fateful night of December 29, 2005. This, and many more startling facts, was revealed by Sabhahuddin, the man allegedly responsible for the Indian Institute of Science attack, during a narco analysis test in Bangalore last week.

Sabhahuddin confessed that the terror attack was botched when his associate Abu Hamza, who was carrying the arms cache, was held up by a traffic jam.

During the five-hour narco analysis test, Sabhahuddin revealed that the task had been assigned to them by Muzammil, Laskhar-e-Tayiba's India-in-charge, who instructed them to target as many Indian professionals as possible.

Muzammil explained to Sabhahuddin that these professionals were India's strength, and their death was bound to affect the country.

"Hamza and I met a few days before the attack and we surveyed the IISC campus. A seminar was scheduled to be held at the IISC and some professionals were meeting at the Le Meredian hotel, prior to the seminar. However, we decided against carrying out an attack at the hotel as the idea didn't seem feasible," Sabhahuddin told the police officials.

Hamza's plan was to barge into the Tata Auditorium during the seminar, open fire on the crowd and also lob a grenade. We decided that we should kill at least 100 people in the auditorium. On D-day, I waited near the IISC. Hamza was supposed to reach the institute along with the weapons.

However, he got stuck in a traffic jam and by the time he reached the spot, the seminar was almost over and people had started leaving. A confused Hamza opened fire indiscriminately. He even lobbed the grenade, but it did not explode,"  Sabhahuddin said during the test, which was conducted after the truth serum was injected into him.

Soon after the attack, Sabhahuddin rushed to the bus stand and boarded a bus to Chennai. From Chennai, he traveled to West Bengal and crossed over to Bangladesh. He eventually sought refuge in Pakistan.

His associate Hamza escaped to Hyderabad, and traveled on to Bangladesh from there. Hamza is presently hiding in Pakistan, according to Sabhahuddin.

"The two of us then met at the LeT camp in Pakistan. We were scheduled to meet  Muzammil, who was seething with rage. He told us that we had wasted many hours of planning and man power. He warned us against repeating such a mistake in the future. We were then sent for training and I ended up in a training camp in Nepal. A few months later, I trained a youth camp in Nepal," he said.

Sabhahuddin soon rose to the rank of a commander in LeT. He was sent to Lucknow to prepare an unit, to plan and execute terror attacks, within the country. "I influenced a couple of youths to join the camp and trained them for several months," he admitted.

The CRPF attack in UP

"I was then told to gear up for an attack on the Central Reserve Police Force camp in Rampur. We also planned to carry out an attack on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh headquarters in Nagpur, after the CRPF attack. Once the plan was finalised, a consignment comprising Ak-47 rifles and grenades, came from Pakistan via Kashmir.

Sabhahuddin revealed many shocking facts during the narco analysis test. He told the police officials that he transported many of the rifles into Uttar Pradesh by train, and the railway security personnel didn't bother to check him even once.

He termed the CRPF attack a 'near success'.

Sabhahuddin, a student from Aligarh, was persuaded to join the LeT by two students from the Aligarh Muslim University. "They told me to join the organisation as the community needed me and atrocities were being meted out against my community. I was inducted into the LeT at Muzaffarbad in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir in 2000. After several months of training, I was sent to Bangalore. I was asked to study the city, identify a likely target for a terror attack and report back to my boss.

My boss gave me Rs 1 lakh for my expenses and instructed me to remain undercover. I decided that I will pretend to be a student. I got myself admitted to the business management course in the Brindavan College. In Bangalore, I kept a track of important seminars and business meetings. That is how I got to know about the important seminar scheduled to be held at the IISC. I got the names of the invitees and e-mailed it to my boss. I told him about the plan to attack IISC and it was approved," Sabhahuddin revealed during the narco analysis test.

Incidentally, Sabhahuddin, who is lodged at the Lucknow jail at present, plans to complete his course at Brindavan College.