NEW DELHI, Oct 22:
After five months of detention in Saudi Arabia, Fasih Mohammed, a suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorist and an accused in the Delhi and Bangalore blasts, was today arrested after he was deported from the gulf country.
Fasih, hailing from Bihar and an engineer by profession, was sent in a routine civilian flight and was placed under arrest upon his arrival at the Indira Gandhi International Airport this morning.
India had sought his deportation from Saudi Arabia. It had also got an Interpol Red Corner notice issued against him. 28-year-old Fasih was detained in Saudi Arabia in the first week of May this year.
“It is a very important catch. He was deported by Saudi Arabia,” Union Home Secretary R K Singh told reporters here.
He said Fasih was the “key facilitator” for 13 Indian Mujahideen terrorists who were arrested from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and a few other places late last year.
Suspected to to be a member of the banned outfit Indian Mujahideen, Bihar-born Fasih is alleged to have been involved in the Chinnaswamy Stadium blast in Bangalore and the shooting near Jama Masjid (Delhi), both in 2010, and is wanted by Delhi and Karnataka police.
Syed Zabiuddin alias Abu Jundal, a key planner of 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, was also deported from Saudi Arabia earlier this year.
After Jundal’s deportation, the Saudi authorities had objected to the media coverage about it. A delegation from the Gulf country had also met National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon and is believed to have objected to various “leaks” to journalists.
Saudi government handed over Fasih only after getting several documents from India including the statements of the alleged Indian Mujahideen members who had been arrested by the Delhi Police over the last year, sources said.
His name had cropped up during the interrogation of suspected IM terrorists arrested during the last one year.
While the Saudi authorities confirmed his detention there, they conveyed that they were closely examining his role and stay in that country.
Fasih’s wife Nikhat Parveen had approached the Supreme Court claiming that her husband was in the custody of central security agencies, a charge denied by the Government. (PTI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel