IM's Bihar unit is lynchpin behind 13/7, other blasts

The Indian Mujahideen set up its module in little-suspected Bihar to carry out the 13/7 terror attacks, reports Vicky Nanjappa  

Today makes it once year since three blasts rocked Mumbai -- at Opera House, Zaveri Bazaar, and Dadar -- killing 26 people, and there has been no major headway in the investigations into the case. The biggest find one could say in the probe was the role played by the Bihar module of the Indian Mujahideen.

There was a lurking doubt that the Indian Mujhaideen was trying to set up modules in states that were not so much under investigators' focus and during the 13/7 probe they came across the Bihar module.

Light a candle for 13/7: Show you remember

The arrest of two operatives, Naqi Ahmed and Nadeem Akhtar, was the first sign of the probe agencies cracking the module. The duo who hails from Bihar was handed over a sum of Rs 1.5 lakh to carry out the operation by Yasin Bhatkal, one of the main conspirators behind the triple blasts.

Further probe revealed that 13/7 terror operation, the blasts in Delhi and Bengaluru in 2010 were all carried out by the Bihar module. There were 11 modules that played a role in last year's attack; the major one were based in Bihar's Araria, Madhubani and Sitamarhi areas.     

Sources in the Intelligence Bureau say that 13/7

was an important operation for the Indian Mujahideen since the outfit had been lying low for a while. 

The blasts outside Bengaluru's Chinnaswamy stadium and the Jama Masjid attack in 2010 were small operations. However, with 13/7 the IM made a comeback of sorts. They hit major business centres in Mumbai as they wanted to create a huge impact, said investigators.   

What the creation of the Bihar module did was it sent the police on a wild goose chase elsewhere, since Bihar was not in focus, and it took a very long time before they discovered where the attack was conspired.

Even the operatives used during 13/7 were mostly illegal immigrants, which was a deliberate ploy on the part of the IM to avoid the heat. Moreover, the use of electronic communication via emails or even mobile phones was extremely restricted making it difficult for the police to nab the culprits. 

It was an operation conducted in Tamil Nadu by the Delhi police, which finally blew the lid off the IM's Bihar module. During the interrogation of the various persons that were picked up, including an operative by the name Riazul Sarkar, it was found that the attack was planned with the Bihar module in mind. He also revealed that the modules that carried out 13/7 were based in areas of Bihar which had a huge influx of illegal immigrants.

The IM ensured that the entire plan was kept out of the ambit of the Maharashtra modules, as they realised that terror groups from the state were under the scanner.