The Delhi police special cell has arrested the mastermind of serial bomb blasts across the country in which about 165 persons were killed and over 535 injured, police said on Wednesday.
Ariz Khan, the 32-year-old bomb-maker of terror group Indian Mujahideen (IM) that carried out serial bombings in Delhi, Jaipur, Uttar Pradesh and Ahmedabad a decade ago, was arrested in Nepal on Tuesday.
“He is an expert bomb-maker and a core member of the Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, module of the IM. He was the executor and key conspirator of serial bomb blasts carried out by the IM in 2007 and 2008. He was recruiting cadre for the outfit,” said P.S. Kushwah, DCP (Special Cell).
Mr. Kushwah said inputs had been received that absconding terrorists of the IM and the Students Islamic Movement of India had set up base in Nepal and were visiting India to indoctrinate unemployed youth and fill the gaps left by arrests of top leaders.
“We got information that Ariz Khan alias Junaid would be coming to UP from Banbasa on the Indo-Nepal border to meet an associate.
Acting on the information, a trap was laid and he was apprehended on Tuesday evening from a location in Banbasa, Nepal Road,” added Mr. Kushwah.
Ariz Khan alias Junaid | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
He had done engineering in IT trade from a college in Muzaffarnagar, UP.
His family stays in Azamgarh district of UP.
On September 19, 2008, when a team of the special cell raided a hideout of bomb blasts suspects at Batla House, Delhi where he, along with other IM operatives were present, two Indian Mujahideen terrorists were killed and as many arrested.
Ariz Khan and another, Shehzad had, however, managed to escape from the flat in Jamia Nagar.
Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma, who led the police team, was killed during the operation.