Modi’s assassination bid foiled, terrorist held

Ahmedabad crime branch arrested one Samirkhan Sarfarajkhan Pathan, who they claim was trained by Jaish-e-Mohammed in Pakistan and whose prime mission was to assassinate caretaker Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

The arrest was made on September 27 from Gita Mandir bus stand, Ahmedabad, based on a tip- off.

Pathan, a resident of Ahmedabad, was absconding after playing a role in the murder of a constable in Naranpura area of the city in May 1996. He has, since then, lived in various places in India and Pakistan. These include two terrorist training camps in Pakistan - Kotli in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and Manser in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan - where he trained for one and a half years, special IG, heading city crime branch, P.P. Pandey said at a press conference. He also undertook three months’ training in Internet surfing at Rawalpindi. The police has found that Pathan returned to India via Nepal on a fake passport. All his communication has been through the Internet, Mr. Pandey stressed.

Mr. Pandey said Pathan was a close associate of Dubai-based Aftab Ansari, who is the prime accused in the attack on American Centre in Kolkata in December 2001.

On interrogation, police was able to piece together his movements for the last five years and get details about his accomplices in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. During interrogation Pathan revealed that he had come to the city with a mission to assassinate Mr. Modi but Mr. Pandey said that no arms were found on Pathan. Also, police is yet to establish whether Pathan had local accomplices or not.

Meanwhile, crime branch arrested six of his accomplices from neighbouring states for providing him with financial and logistic support, said Mr. Pande. Those arrested are Yakin Ahmed Pathan and Mohammed Salam Pathan from Kota and Jhalawad in Rajasthan, Subhash Vyas and Mujibur Rehman from Shahjapur in Madhya Pradesh, Abdul Mujib Khan and Abu Bakar Kutchi Memon from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh.

One more team of the crime branch is in Jaipur to nab other accomplices of Pathan. Mr. Pande said though their investigations have not revealed Pathan’s link with the Akshardham terrorists, they are still exploring the possibility. Further, Mr. Pande did not rule out the possibility of Pathan’s involvement in other subversive activities in the state considering his elaborate training in handling arms and explosives.

Republished from The Asian Age