Mumbai:
Haroon Rashid Naik Sheikh, one of three men accused of the triple blasts in Mumbai in July last year, allegedly spent some time with Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan in 2001.
Sources in the Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) say that Sheikh handled the funding of last year's terror attacks in Mumbai. Their investigations reveal that Sheikh, 33, met the former Al Qaeda chief in Bahawalpur, Pakistan, in August 2001. Here, he was given training for 40 days in how to execute terror attacks; his alleged instructors included Osama.
According to the ATS that has custody of Sheikh, the terror suspect, while in Pakistan, also met Zaki-ur-Rehman-Lakhvi, the man who masterminded the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai in 2009.
Investigating agencies believe that Sheikh was close to the co-founder of the Indian Mujahideen, Riyaz Bhatkal, who may have facilitated the meeting with Osama.
Osama bin Laden was killed on May 2 last year in a US Navy Seals raid in the Pakistan military town of Abbottabad.
The Maharashtra ATS says Haroon Shiekh took care of hawala operations in the 13/7 blasts that left 27 people dead and nearly a 100 injured when bombs exploded in quick succession in Zaveri Bazaar, near Opera House and close to the Dadar area in the city centre. Yasin Bhatkal, who is believed to be the top IM man in India after founders and brothers Riyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal escaped the country, is alleged to have masterminded the Mumbai triple blasts. Yasin remains missing.
Haroon Sheikh was arrested in Mumbai last year in connection with a fake currency case. He was later charged in the blasts case while in custody.
The arrests of two other men, Naqqi Sheikh and Nadeem Akhtar of Bihar, both believed to be members of the IM, was announced by ATS chief Rakesh Maria. Hours later, Mr Maria's claim that the case had been solved was challenged by the Centre and the Delhi Police , which claimed that one of the two men was an informer, and had been providing them with vital leads that could have helped nab Yasin Bhatkal also known as Shah Rukh, the alleged mastermind of the 13/7 blasts.
After considerable embarrassment, claims and counter-claims, the Centre sought to do damage-contol, saying it was happy with the arrests and breakthroughs made by the Maharashtra ATS in the 13/7 blasts case.