In the investigations to terror plots, there have been two goof-ups. The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad `plucked' a 23-year-old boy from a Dubai flight and claimed that he was the mastermind behind the Pune blast. Home Minister P Chidambaram was ecstatic and had congratulated the ATS for arresting Bhatkal, the brother of Indian Mujahideen (IM) founder Riyaz Bhatkal. It now turns out that the boy who was arrested was not Bhatkal but Samad. In the second case, the Congress and other secular parties made a hue and cry over the gunning down of Ishrat Jahan. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and the police were accused of cold-blooded murder. But now it turns out that Ishrat was a fidayeen who was assigned to kill Modi. That is what David Coleman Hedley, the Pakistan-born US national who was arrested in connection with the Mumbai blast, had told the National Investigation Agency.
Mumbai: "I thank Allah and my lawyer and my family because of whom I am out today," was the only sentence the 23-year-old Mohammad Abdul Samad Zarar uttered in his first press conference on Tuesday, two days after he was released from Arthur Road jail after getting bail.
His lawyer Mubin Solkar said at the press conference that Samad was made an accused in an illegal arms case of 2009. He categorically denied any link with the February 13 German Bakery blast in which 17 were killed.
"He has no role in the blast case and was never picked up by ATS to probe involvement in the case. He has two siblings, Mohammad Ahmed and Mariya. He doesn't know anyone named Bhatkal," said Solkar and added that he had no relation with Yasin Bhatkal, alleged to be a close associate and relative of Indian Mujahideen (IM) founder Riyaz Bhatkal.
"He hasn't been to Pune or Mumbai ever before. We earlier stated and still maintain that on February 13, Abdul was in Bangalore with his uncle and had checked into a hotel, proof of which the family has," he said.
He had apparently travelled to Dubai after completing a certified course in Microsoft System. "He went to his father who lives in Dubai hoping to get a job there. He was in fact approached by a few companies where he had applied," added Solkar. Solkar defended Samad in the arms case in which he was booked.
"A co-accused allegedly named someone by the name Abdul Samad in his confession. That's the only evidence police tried to build up their case on...," Solkar added.
Profile of Abdul Samad, 23:
* Studied in Bhatkal till class X.
* Attended Anjuman College for a year
* Shifted to Bangalore for further studies
* Completed a Microsoft certified course from a Bangalore college.
Ishrat Jahan was a fidayeen assigned to kill Modi: Headley
New Delhi: In what would come as a great relief for Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Gujarat police, David Headley has said Ishrat Jahan, the Mumbai college girl who was gunned down last year was a fidayeen, or suicide bomber.
Bearing out the version of Gujarat Police, American-born Lashker-e-Toiba terrorist David Headley has claimed before NIA sleuths that Ishrat, who was killed in a police encounter in Ahmadabad, was a suicide bomber of the outfit.
Official sources said that Headley shared this information with the four-member team comprising officials from National Investigation Agency and Law Department during their visit to Chicago in the US.
The girl, whose death had sparked a major controversy, was alleged to be a member of Lashker's suicide squad who had been inducted by top LeT operative Muzamil.
Sources said Headley's reconnaissance missions for Lashkar in India started in 2006.
Jahan was killed along with Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai and two Pakistani nationals -- Amjad Ali and Jishan Johar Abdul Ghani -- on June 15, 2004.
As per police records, they were intercepted on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, travelling in a car. When they were confronted, an encounter ensued in which all were shot dead.
Ishrat's mother Shamima Kausar in her petition to Gujarat High Court had claimed that her daughter was working as a saleswoman for Sheikh's perfumes business.
Ishrat, a resident of Mumbra suburb in Thane district, was a second year B.Sc student at Mumbai's Guru Nanak Khalsa College. Having lost her father two years before her death in 2002, she embroidered clothes and gave tuitions to help support her family of eight -- including her mother and six brothers and sisters.
On June 15, 2004, Ishrat and three of her friends, Javed Ghulam Sheikh alias Pranesh Kumar Pillai, Amjad Ali alias Rajkumar Akbar Ali Rana and Jisan Johar Abdul Gani were gunned down by Ahmedabad Police's Crime Branch (Detection) on the outskirts of the city.
An embarrassing probe had revealed horrifying details of how Ishrat Jahan and three others, who were proclaimed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives on a fidayeen mission to kill Chief Minister Narendra Modi, were actually gunned down in cold blood a day before they were actually shown as killed in a police encounter.
The enquiry by the city magisterial court had revealed that the Ishrat Jahan encounter that took place on June 15, 2004 did not happen at the time and place the police officially revealed. The encounter was staged managed by the then Ahmedabad police commissioner K. R. Kaushik, crime branch chief P. P. Pandey, DIG D. G. Vanzara and his men to flatter Modi for "promotions".
The damning report had put pressure on Modi which named 21 cops, including retired DGP Kaushik, as the people behind the gunning down of innocent persons by branding them terrorists.
With the new revelation by Headley, Tamang's report and all the probes may have to be turned on the head.
