Bhatkal man held for terror links

DHNS

New Delhi, 21 May 2016: Abdul Wahid Siddibappa, a suspected Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative accused of routing funds for terror strikes in India, was arrested here on Friday when he arrived from Dubai.

 

Siddibappa (32), who uses “Khan” as his code name, hails from Bhatkal. He is a distant relative of jailed IM chief Yasin Bhatkal. An Interpol Red Notice was issued against Siddibappa earlier. Indian investigators have linked him to July 2006 Mumbai serial blasts, the 2008 Delhi blasts and the 2010 Chinnaswamy Stadium blasts in Bengaluru.

 

The arrest of Siddibappa shows the growing cooperation from UAE in dealing with Indian terror operatives holed up in the Gulf country. 

 

Siddibappa was apprehended in Abu Dhabi in early 2014 and after India convinced UAE of his involvement in terror activities, local authorities facilitated his arrest.

 

He was produced before a special court, which remanded him in NIA custody for seven days. The agency told the court that investigators wanted to question him in connection with fund transfer to the terror outfit. 

 

Siddibappa’s lawyer M S Khan said his client’s name never appeared anywhere in the chargesheet filed by the NIA or in the list of proclaimed offenders or wanted persons.

 

Sources said he was in Dubai and had assumed the name of Khan. He was an “important cadre” of the IM and he regularly transferred funds from Pakistan to UAE and then to India for terror activities.

 

According to NIA, Siddibappa had played an “active role” and was the main conduit in the chain of fund supply from Pakistan via Dubai to other IM operatives based in India.

 

Siddibappa’s name emerged in the terror circuit after Indian investigators found his mention in the chats between IM top leaders Yasin and Riyaz Bhatkal. On the arrest, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said investigating agencies keep doing their work. “We should not comment on that. I will not talk in specific context of any case,” he said.