Five serial blasts had ripped through Delhi markets on September 13, 2008. (Archive)
The Delhi Police Special Cell filed a chargesheet against Ariz Khan alias Junaid, an accused in the Delhi serial blasts and wanted after the Batla House encounter, on August 31 this year.
The encounter took place between Delhi Police Special Cell and alleged terrorists at a flat (L-18) in a crowded neighbourhood in south Delhi’s Batla House, on September 19, 2008 — six days after serial blasts ripped through the capital, killing 26 people.
The encounter left Inspector MC Sharma, and two alleged terrorists dead. Ariz, who had allegedly fled from the encounter, was arrested from Nepal in February this year.
The Special Cell, in its chargesheet, said that Ariz Khan’s father was a columnist and mother a primary school teacher. In its chargesheet, police said that Khan, along with other accused “used to read Tameer-E-Millat magazine”, “listen to Jihadi audio cassettes of Maulana Masood Azhar”, “Islamic tarane” and “videos of Philistine War”.
According to the chargesheet, it was submitted that Ariz along with the other accused planned to change the strategy of planting bombs from “bicycle to others” as bicycles have frame numbers and the person purchasing it could be identified by the seller.
“So Ariz Khan alias Junaid along with Mohd Ameen finalised to keep the bombs in dustbins available everywhere in parks and markets of Delhi,” the chargesheet said.
The chargesheet further cited Ariz Khan’s statement where he said that in May 2008, he along with other accused had visited the cycle market and purchased 20,000 ball bearings saying that they are engineering students and require the bearings for a project.