Ariz Khan of the Indian Mujahideen was arrested by Delhi Police team from the Indo-Nepal border
Highlights
- Ariz Khan had helped put together bombs for serial terror attacks
- The serial bombings took place between 2007, 2008 in several cities
- Ariz Khan was also trying to revive Indian Mujahideen, police said
Ariz Khan, the 32-year-old bomb maker of
terror group Indian Mujahideen that carried out serial bombings in Delhi and elsewhere a decade back, has been arrested, a senior Delhi Police officer announced on Wednesday.
Khan had helped put together bombs that went off in between 2007 and 2008 in Delhi, Ahmedabad, Uttar Pradesh and Jaipur.
In all, the police said, these explosives had killed 165 people and injured 535.
"This is a big success," declared Pramod Singh Kushwah, a senior Delhi Police officer who oversaw the operation that led to Khan's arrest.
Apart from his involvement in the serial bombings, Mr Kushwah told NDTV that equally important was that Khan, along with another engineer,
Abdul Subhan Qureshi also known as Tauqeer, were trying to revive the Indian Mujahideen.
Qureshi was arrested last month by Delhi Police.
Khan was present at Batla House, along with four others, on 19 September 2008 in Delhi's Jamia Nagar, in which two Indian Mujahideen terrorists were killed and as many arrested.
Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma, who led the police action, was killed during the operation.
Khan had, however, managed to escape from Jamia Nagar.
After shifting places for a month, Khan headed to Nepal where he got hold of a Nepali citizenship card and passport in the name of Salim. Initially, he tried his hand at running a restaurant but later started teaching in different schools in Nepal.
He again came in touch with Riyaz Bhatkal, the Indian Mujahideen founder, who motivated him to travel to Saudi Arabia to raise money to revive the group in September 2014.
"For a cover, he worked as a labourer and also met with many sympathizers there," Mr Kushwah said.
He returned to Nepal from Saudi Arabia in March 2017 and would occasionally travel to India.
Khan was arrested from near the India-Nepal border when he came to meet an old contact.