Karnataka   

Software firms in Bangalore were among terror suspect’s targets

BANGALORE: An alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative arrested by the Davangere police recently had reportedly planned to trigger explosions at the Andhra Pradesh State police headquarters in Hyderabad.

During interrogation by the Karnataka police, Ziyazuddin Nasir (22) has reportedly claimed that his handlers in Pakistan had assigned him the plan to execute. His claims have still to be confirmed and investigations are on by the Karnataka and Hyderabad police to do this.

The police are also investigating Nasir’s other claims: that he had planned to attack American software companies in Bangalore. He mentioned Microsoft and IBM as among his targets, highly placed sources in the State police told The Hindu on Monday.

Nasir, a native of Hyderabad, told the investigators that he could not carry out the attack on the DGP’s office in Hyderabad as he did not receive the arms and ammunition from the terrorist outfit on time after sneaking into India through Bangladesh and Nepal last August, after undergoing arms training in Pakistan.

According to the sources, Nasir has claimed that his plan to attack the DGP’s office could not take off as his mentor and Harkat-ul-Jihadi (HuJi) commander Abdul Shahid, a fellow Hyderabadi, was shot dead in Pakistan. As he could not complete his assignment, his handlers had asked him to return to Pakistan, he said during interrogation.

However, he decided to stay back in India and shift base to Karnataka as the Hyderabad police were on the lookout for him.

After the twin explosions at Lumbini Park and Gokul Chats in Hyderabad, Indian authorities had urged Pakistan to hand over Shahid to India as he was suspected to have plotted a series of blasts in Andhra Pradesh. Shahid was later reportedly shot dead by unidentified men while he was riding a motorcycle in a Pakistani town, the sources said. Meanwhile, participating in a national seminar on “Terrorism Disasters” here on Monday, P.K.H. Tharakan, Adviser to the Karnataka Governor and former chief of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), said a “major incident” had been averted with Nasir’s arrest, although he did not specify the incident.

The sources said the investigation of Nasir and his two arrested accomplices strongly suggests a network spread across several towns in Karnataka, including Bangalore.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Software firms in Bangalore were among terror suspect’s targets
Almost epic
Mocking at sensibilities film reviews
Heritage clubs to be set up in 20 districts, says official
Protest
Scholars asked to make folklore research more meaningful
‘BJP stands for welfare of all’
Two suspects and the clever judge
Broad gauge conversion work to be completed by April
Governor urged to hold meeting on Cauvery issue
Compensation
Rallying for the poor
Crisis resolved
Children’s film fest
‘No training camps’
Mysore Wadiyar’s outburst against Siddaramaiah draws flak
Crisis facing Ashta Maths resolved
Security plan for Krishna Temple ready: police
Tiger census results could be out ‘anytime now’
Water Adalat
To each his own 

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu