Mumbai:
The Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) claims to have figured out who planned and executed the German Bakery blast in Pune in February in which 17 people were killed.
The ATS has arrested Himayat Baig - allegedly the chief of the Maharashtra unit of terrorist group Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) - for planting the bomb that exploded at 7.10 pm on February 13. Because it was a Saturday evening, the bakery, located near the Osho Ashram and popular with foreigners, was crowded. Those who died included several college students.
"The conspiracy was hatched in January 2010. In the last week of January, a meet was held in Latur district. After this meet, Himayat Baig came to Pune on 31 January and did a recce. On 3rd February, another meet was held and plans were finalised. From 7 February onwards, Himayat Baig was executing the plan from his internet cafe and explosives were brought and bomb was prepared." He also said that a cellphone was used to trigger the blast.
Himayat's aide - Bilal Sheikh - has also been arrested. But another man - Yasin - has yet to be tracked down. As a missing link, he's crucial to the investigation for more than one reason. He is from Bhatkal, the hub of the Indian Mujahideen, of which he is allegedly a leader. He also looks confusingly like his brother, Abdul Samad, who was arrested in May. Home Minister P Chidambaram described him as a prime suspect in the Pune blasts. The mistaken identity turned into a serious embarrassment, especially because the police found no evidence against him in this case.
Himayat Baig was working at a public library in Pune in 2004, when he met Akbar and Mohsin Chaudhary, brothers who belonged to the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT). Baig joined the LeT and climbed the ranks to become its state chief. In 2006, Akbar Choudhary introduced him to a man from Bhatkal in Karnataka, Riyaz Shahbhadari, whose agenda was to create an Indian terrorist group consisting of middle-class recruits with no criminal past, who the police would find difficult to connect to the LeT. Riyaz's group would become known to the country as the Indian Mujahideen. Himayat allegedly recruited many of its members.
Between 2005 and 2008, the Indian Mujahideen unleashed a series of attacks including the serial train blasts in Mumbai in July, 2006; serial blasts in Jaipur in May 2008; and a month later, multiple blasts in Ahmedabad in a span of 70 minutes.
Akbar Chowdhary, who introduced Himayat to the LeT has been arrested. His brother, Mohsin, is missing, and allegedly masterminded the Pune German Bakery blast.
In 2008, with most of its key members arrested, the Indian Mujahideen, its founder worried, was becoming irrelevant. The police believe the Pune Blast was an attempt by its founder, Riyaz, to brandish its return.