Saudis Finally Hand Over Indian Mujahideen co-founder Fasih to India
Mail Today and Times of India Reports
By Mail Today Bureau in New Delhi
23 Oct, 2012
AFTER months of diplomatic and intelligence efforts, Fasih Mahmood, a suspected Indian Mujahideen ( IM) operative, was deported from Saudi Arabia on Monday and arrested by the Delhi Police’s special cell at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.
Fasih’s name, the police claim, had cropped up during the interrogation of Gauhar Aziz Khomani, one of the six alleged IM operatives arrested from Chennai’s Selaiyur last year. This February, another IM operative, Mohd Tariq Anjuman Hasan, a civil engineer from Bihar and key IM ideologue, named Fasih during grilling.
He is alleged to be one of the IM’s founding members and the police say his name was linked to the 2010 Chinnaswamy stadium blasts and the Jama Masjid blasts.
Fasih, a mechanical engineer employed in Saudi Arabia as a project manager for five years now, was picked up by the authorities from Al Jubal on May 13 and jailed for suspected terror links. “ He was the IM’s key fundraiser. His arrest is likely to unravel many mysteries about the group,” a senior police official said.
Home secretary R. K. Singh termed his arrest as an “ important catch”. He said India had submitted material evidence against Fasih to Saudi Arabia to press for his deportation, which was delayed for long.
The Indian government had been pressing for Fasih’s custody since May.
The Saudi authorities had first “communicated” to India that they would deport Fasih after Ramazan, but did not.
Government sources believed the country was wary of deporting him after its move to deport 26/ 11 key player Abu Jundal earlier this year put it in a spot.
The Gulf country was said to be unhappy with the leaks to the media about Jundal’s revelations during his grilling by the Indian agencies, which allegedly embarrassed Saudi Arabia in its geo- political relationship with Pakistan.
Now the Indian government maintains that Fasih had to serve a sentence in the Gulf country, but sources said they are still not aware of the charges against him there.
Singh clarified that Saudi Arabia had never said Fasih would not be deported.
“Saudi Arabia cooperated with us and the Indian officials had been coordinating with the country for quite some time by providing documents to prove Fasih’s Indian citizenship,” he said.
Intelligence agencies suspect some other IM operatives are also living in Saudi Arabia. Some IM suspects recently arrested by the Delhi Police revealed that they had travelled to the Gulf country to meet top IM operative Fayaz Qagzi.
Fasih is said to be close to Qagzi. “We’ll try and gather credible evidence against them and seek their deportation,” a home ministry official said.
Fasih’s arrest in India has come as a shock for his family, which claims he has been implicated.
His brother Sabih, who was present at the Tis Hazari courts on Monday, said Fasih was innocent.
Earlier, Fasih’s wife Nikhat, now eight months pregnant, had filed a habeas corpus petition in the apex court to know her husband’s whereabouts.
According to Sabih, the family had no idea whether Fasih was in any trouble before he was arrested in the Gulf country. “He spoke to his mother just hours before he was arrested and everything seemed normal.
We are sure there is some misunderstanding and we will get justice,” Sabih said.
Nikhat claimed in her petition that minority youths from Bihar’s Darbhanga district were being targeted and that her husband was the 14th person arrested from his village. She said it was common for the police to barge into anyone’s home in Barh Samaila and take away educated youths.
The Saudis also deported A. Rayees, alleged Lashkar-e- Tayyeba member, on Monday.
He was handed over to the Kerala Police.
WHO IS HE?
Fasih, an engineer by profession, hails from Bihar and studied engineering in Karnataka
H is name cropped up last year when the Delhi Police grilled an alleged IM member
Fasih allegedly started the IM in 2003 along with the Bhatkal brothers, Amir Raza Khan and Mohd Tariq Anjuman Hasan
Fasih was employed in Saudi Arabia as a project manager for five years
Mail Today
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Key IM man Fasih deported by Saudi Arabia, held at IGI
Neeraj Chauhan & Vishwa Mohan
Oct 23, 2012
NEW DELHI: India finally got Fasih Mohammad, a key fund-raiser for the Indian Mujahideen (IM), in its custody.
The engineer, who hails from Bihar's Darbhanga district and is believed to be one of the founding members of IM, was arrested by Delhi Police at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport here on Monday morning, after he was deported by Saudi Arabia.
Fasih is believed to be connected to the Chinnaswamy Stadium (April, 2010) and Delhi's Jama Masjid (September 19, 2010) terror attacks.
Fasih is the third terrorist to be deported from Saudi Arabia in the past five months, while five others, including Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operative Fayyaz Kagzi, are still holed up in the country. The key 26\11 Mumbai terror attack handler Abu Jundal was deported in June, whereas another Lashkar terrorist A Rayees of Kerala was deported earlier this month.
India has already written to Saudi Arabia, seeking help in tracing the five suspects, including Kagzi, who have been running sleeper cells from there to carry out terror attacks in India.
The arrest brought to an end a long spell of uncertainty within the Indian establishment about whether New Delhi would be able to get access to Fasih. The deportation is seen as a breakthrough for Indian investigators who have been trying to lay their hands on the senior IM `terrorist'. Agency sources said they believe this arrest would help them gather more information on this shadowy organization, which Indian agencies believe was set up by LeT and ISI to promote home-grown terrorism within India. This makes Fasih a prize catch, said sources. In his initial conversations with investigators, Fasih is believed to have revealed that five other IM members, including Kagzi, were still in Saudi Arabia.
Hours after getting Fasih deported, Indian on Monday termed him a "very important catch", saying Saudi Arabia fully cooperated in his deportation to India. In his first official reaction on Fasih's arrest, home secretary R K Singh said, "He was a very important catch. He was deported after he had served a sentence there( for some crime committed there). Saudi Arabia fully cooperated with us." He said India had submitted "material evidence" against Fasih to Saudi authorities to press its demand for deportation for his involvement in various terrorist acts in the country. "Our officers were in touch with Saudi Arabia. That is how it happened," he said. The home secretary's statement raised frowns in MEA, which has been trying to get the home ministry to keep operational details out of public view.
Fasih has been in Saudi custody since May. India wanted him for his involvement in Chinnaswamy Stadium blast in Bangalore and IM's Meer Vihar (Delhi) factory, which was unearthed by Delhi's Special Cell last November, with the arrest of 13 IM terrorists. Fasih's name as an important leader of the organization and close association with Riyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal in Pakistan and Yasin Bhatkal in India, had cropped up first during questioning of other IM members — Gauhar Aziz Khomani and Mohammad Tarique Anjum Hasan (both natives of Darbhanga). His role is also being examined in the Jama Masjid attack case. A Red Corner Notice (RCN) was also issued against him in May.
Sources say "since the formation of Indian Mujahideen in 2003, he used to visit several places and collect funds for Jehadi activities. He was in direct touch with Riyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal". During the interrogation of 13 IM terrorists, Delhi Police investigators learned that the IM boss, Ahmad Zarrar Siddibappa alias Yasin Bhatkal, used to make regular calls to Saudi Arabia. They suspect those calls were made to Fasih.
The Fasih deportation differs from that of Jundal, primarily because there was little doubt about the former's nationality. While Jundal was picked up in Saudi Arabia with Pakistani documents, Fasih had Indian identification on him. Ironically, the case against Fasih was helped by his wife, Nikhat Parveen, who filed a habeas corpus regarding his "disappearance", accusing the Indian authorities of hiding him.
India's efforts to have him deported, however, got complicated because of legal reasons. Though he was part of IM since his days in the Engineering College at Bhatkal, he was never charge sheeted for his involvement. In fact, he was detained by Saudi authorities allegedly for a minor visa-related offence.
It took a while for the Indians to put together a credible documentation on him. The charge sheet against Fasih in the Chinnaswamy Stadium case came after he was detained by the Saudi authorities. In addition, Fasih insisted he was not Indian, though his wife's legal efforts put paid to that bid.
There was disquiet in Saudi Arabia when Indian officials were seen to be arguing too much about Fasih's deportation, which annoyed the Saudis as well as MEA. Saudi Arabia remained quite sensitive about any 'hype' around deportation of either Jundal or Fasih. Saudi authorities' sensitivity was reportedly articulated even by the national security advisor Shivshankar Menon last when he told a gathering of police chiefs that the media leaks of details of operation that led to the arrest of Jundal had upset Riyadh. He underlined the need for ensuring complete secrecy in police operations and advised them not to compromise sources in claiming "operational glory". He wanted secrecy to be maintained at all levels in handling cases of international terrorism as the acts have "dangerous propensity of international embarrassment".
The deportation also underlined the deepening security cooperation with Saudi Arabia. The latest assistance by the Saudis is another step in the evolution of a relationship. Saudi Arabia has been jolted by the al-Qaeda attack against Prince Nayef earlier, and there is a general "pivot" towards India and China, which are becoming anchor partners for Saudi Arabia. Sources said, India and Saudi Arabia have deepened security cooperation, and would continue to do so, as a measure of the growing bilateral ties.
India is now eyeing Kagzi (a resident of Beed in Maharashtra who has been on the run since the Aurangabad arms haul episode in 2006) and four others who have been hiding in Saudi Arabia. Kagzi, a close associate of IM founder Riyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal, has been hiding in Saudi Arabia since August, 2009. Before fleeing to Saudi Arabia, he had spent time first in Pakistan and then in Sri Lanka after his name cropped up in the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case.
The home secretary said Saudi Arabia had never stated that Fasih would not be deported but it took some time. Singh said Fasih was the "key facilitator" for 13 IM terrorists, who were arrested from various places including in Bihar and UP late last year. Though the home secretary did not elaborate on the crime of Fasih in Saudi Arabia where he had to serve a sentence before deportation, other officials said that the accused was arrested there for allegedly violating visa-related rule where he as a foreigner was supposed to report to the local law enforcement agency.
Jundal was deported to India by the Saudi authorities in June as part of enhanced intelligence and security related cooperation between two countries. Besides these two, A Rayees, an associate of suspected Let operative T Nazir, was also deported from Saudi Arabia. He was deported and arrested in connection with a 2009 explosives seizure case of Kerala. He was arrested by Kerala Police in Mumbai earlier this month, when he arrived from Saudi Arabia on his deportation after being jailed there in connection with a visa violation case. Nazir, the prime accused in the case, is already in jail and is facing several other terror cases.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Key-IM-man-Fasih-deported-by-Saudi-Arabia-held-at-IGI/articleshow/16920139.cms
BIG CATCH
Fasih Mohammad, an engineer from Bihar’s Darbhanga, is one of the founding fathers of Indian Mujahideen
Fasih is believed to be linked to the Chinnaswamy stadium blast in Bangalore and Delhi’s Jama Masjid attack in 2010 Since the formation of IM in 2003,he had visited several places and collected funds for Jihadi activities Has allegedly revealed that 5 other IM members, including Lashkar operative Fayyaz Kagzi, are still in Saudi Arabia. Third terrorist deported from Saudi Arabia in 5 months
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Home secretary applauds Saudi, raises eyebrows
Bharti Jain
Oct 23, 2012
NEW DELHI: Home secretary R K Singh going public on Saudi Arabia's "full cooperation" in the deportation of Indian Mujahideen operative Fasih Mahmood on Monday raised eyebrows in a section of the security establishment and the ministry of external affairs, given how wary the Gulf nation has been of media hype over such deportations.
MEA officials felt Singh's comment highlighting Saudi Arabia's role in Fasih's detention and deportation may have only amplified media interest in the operational details, which could have been avoided.
Unfortunately, it was this very media spotlight on the earlier deportation 26/11 handler Abu Jundal that had put off Saudi Arabia, especially the "leaks" to media claiming how the Saudis' decision to hand over the terror suspects marked New Delhi's diplomatic victory over Pakistan. The result was delayed action by Riyadh on the subsequent request for Fasih's deportation.
Singh, while speaking to reporters on Monday, described Fasih as a "very important catch" and insisted that Saudi Arabia had at no point denied India's request for custody of the IM operative. "He was deported after he served a sentence for a minor crime there. Saudi Arabia has fully cooperated with us," he said. This was not all. Singh revealed how Indian officers were in touch with Saudi Arabia and submitted "material evidence" against Fasih to back their deportation request,
Incidentally, MEA has many times in the past cautioned the home ministry and state police against giving out operational details of diplomatic engagements regarding matters of security, particularly deportations. Sources in the security establishment also said media hype over Riyadh's role in Fasih's deportation could put requests for deportation of other fugitives in peril.
At a recent conference of state chief secretaries and DGPs here last month, national security adviser Shivshankar Menon had advised intelligence and law enforcement agencies against making operational details of international anti-terror cooperation public. His concern stemmed out of media reports on how Pakistan too had tried for Jundal's custody, but Saudi Arabia chose to go with the Indian request despite its close ties with Islamabad.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Home-secretary-applauds-Saudi-raises-eyebrows/articleshow/16920601.cms
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Wifes petition proved Fasih ID
Habeas Corpus Plea Nailed His Lie of Being Pakistani Citizen
Neeraj Chauhan
23 Oct, 2012
New Delhi: In the five month long process of convincing Saudi Arabia to deport Fasih Mohammad, there was lot of dilly-dallying as issues related to his identity as an Indian and his role here in Indian attacks were raised by Saudi authorities. Subsequently, sources said, while in custody in Saudi Arabia, Fasih was trying to mislead the authorities there by changing his statements claiming to a Pakistani national while an Indian passport was recovered from him.
However, according to top sources, Fasihs wife Nikhat Parveens habeas corpus application in Supreme Court had helped in confirming his identity as an Indian to the Saudi authorities.
Sources said, several documents Chargesheets filed by Karnataka police against him naming him as main accused in Chinnaswamy stadium blast, Delhi Police chargesheet naming him as a suspect, statement of arrested Indian Mujahideen members and several other documents were sent to Saudi. This is when Saudi Arabia got convinced and decided to deport him.
Fasih Mohammad went to Saudi Arabia in 2007, sources say as part of Indian Mujahideens plan to collect funds there. He was detained by authorities there in May this year. During his five month long custody, source said,he was even questioned by Indian security agencies once in Saudi Arabia.
After issuing a Red Corner notice against him in May this year, Indian authorities approached Saudi Arabia for Fasih’s extradition but Interpol informed India that Fasih cannot be extradited since he was not charge sheeted by any agency in India till then. Thereafter, deportation request was made. He was finally deported on Monday morning after a small sentence he was facing in Saudi Arabia, for a small crime, got completed.
Saudi Arabia was also sceptical on deporting Fasih after the leak of information about country handing over 26/11 conspirator Syed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal to India and Saudi did not want to come into limelight for helping India. Interestingly, sources said, Saudi authorities had asked India this time also to keep the deportation of Fasih a secret,which eventually did not happen.
Officials say that the second time leak may irk Saudi Arabia and the oil rich country may not help India in future.
Fasih Mohammad is the founder member of Indian Mujahideen who was present with Riyaz, Iqbal and Yasin Bhatkal and Tarique Anjum Hasan and Gauhar Aziz Khomani, when the Indian Mujahideen was being formed in 2003 in Bhatkal (Karnataka).
He task in Indian Mujahideen was as a fund raiser. Gauhar and Tarique belong to his native place and have known him since 2000, said sources.
Sources said that he was raising funds for the organisation in Saudi Arabia as well apart from doing his job and used to meet the Lashkar and IM operatives regularly. Sources say since the formation of Indian Mujahideen in 2003,he used to visit several places and collect funds for Jehadi activities. He was in direct touch with Riyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal.
During interrogation of 13 Indian Mujahideen terrorists, Special Cell had come to know that India boss of IM Ahmad Zarrar Siddibappa alias Yasin Bhatkal used to make regular calls to Saudi Arabia. It is suspected that Yasin Bhatkal used to make calls to Fasih, his old time associate.
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We got info on deportation only from TV
23 Oct, 2012
M y husband is innocent. This is what Nikhat Parveen, wife of suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorist Fasih Mahmood, had to say when she first heard about her husband’s arrest by the Delhi police on Monday morning. Talking to TOI over the phone from Darbhanga, Bihar, and Parveen said that Fasih has been illegally deported from Saudi Arabia and the police was framing her husband. This is all wrong. The police did not even inform me about his arrest. We only came to know about his deportation through news channels. I am leaving for New Delhi right away to meet him, she said. As soon as the news of his deportation reached the family, Fasih’s brother Sabih Mahmood reached the Tis Hazari court complex hoping to meet his brother. As he waited the whole day for the Delhi police to produce his brother before the magistrate after his arrest, Sabih told how his brother had gone to Saudi Arabia to earn a living. After finishing his engineering from Karnataka, Fasih started working with a company in Saudi Arabia as a mechanical engineer. He got married last year and everything was going fine for the family. Suddenly, we hear these allegations about him being a terrorist. We are a normal middle-class family from a small town and such allegations have ruined our lives, he said.
Times of India
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Fasih is a big catch: Agencies
Neeraj Chauhan & Raj Shekhar
23 Oct, 2012
New Delhi: Named as suspect in two Chargesheets filed by Special Cell on September 20 one in Meer Vihar factory of Indian Mujahideen and another against 26/11 handler Syed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, Fasih Mohammad (32) is considered a big catch by agencies.
The reason, sources say, is that he knows a lot about Indian Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives, their hideouts, organisations funding sources and routes, modules all over India and next targets of the group. Sources also said that Fasih could be in touch with Abu Jundal and Fayyaz Kagzi as well when they were in Saudi Arabia.
We are questioning him about his contacts and meetings with operatives in Saudi Arabia, said the source.
Intelligence officials claim that he came in touch with Bhatkal brothers in 2003 through Tarique Anjum Hasan, who was arrested by Special Cell as part of crackdown on Indian Mujahideen in November-December 2011.Subsequently, another IM terrorist Kafeel had made calls to Fasih regularly, sources said.
While in engineering college in Bhatkal, he met Lashkar members Bhatkal brothers and they all decided to form Indian Mujahideen to avenge Gujarat riots and carry blasts in the country. Bhatkal brothers, who were already in close touch with Amir Reza Khan of Lashkar-e-Toiba. He is also suspected to have also gone to Pakistan for training, said sources. Apart from doing his job, he was reportedly meeting Lashkar operatives in Saudi and was tasked to collect funds there, added the source.
His name had first cropped up during interrogation of Gauhar Aziz Khomani and Tarique Anjum in November 2011 when Special Cell busted a module of 13 IM terrorists and busted an arms factory run by IM Chief Yasin Bhatkal alias Ahmad Zarar Siddibappa. Fasih’s involvement in Chinnaswamy stadium blast of April 2010 and Meer Vihar factory in November 2011 has already been established while he is also being probed for his active role in Jama Masjid attack.
Fasih comes from an educated family of Darbhanga, Bihar.
Times of India
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5 IM members still holed up in Saudi, says Fasih
23 Oct, 2012
New Delhi: Indian Mujahideen member Fasih Mohammad’s deportation from Saudi Arabia is seen as a major breakthrough for Indian investigators.
Agency sources said they believe this arrest would help them gather more information on this shadowy organization, which Indian agencies believe was set up by LeT and ISI to promote home-grown terrorism within India. This makes Fasih a prize catch, said sources. In his initial conversations with investigators, Fasih is believed to have revealed that five other IM members, including Kagzi, were still in Saudi Arabia.
Hours after getting Fasih deported, Indian on Monday termed him a very important catch, saying Saudi Arabia fully cooperated in his deportation to India. In his first official reaction on Fasihs arrest, home secretary R K Singh said, He was a very important catch. He was deported after he had served a sentence there ( for some crime committed there).Saudi Arabia fully cooperated with us. He said India had submitted material evidence against Fasih to Saudi authorities to press its demand for deportation for his involvement in various terrorist acts in the country. Our officers were in touch with Saudi Arabia. That is how it happened, he said. The home secretary’s statement raised frowns in MEA, which has been trying to get the home ministry to keep operational details out of public view.
Fasih has been in Saudi custody since May. India wanted him for his involvement in Chinnaswamy Stadium blast in Bangalore and IM's Meer Vihar (Delhi) factory, which was unearthed by Delhi’s special cell last November, with the arrest of 13 IM terrorists. Fasih’s name as an important leader of the organization and close association with Riyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal in Pakistan and Yasin Bhatkal in India had cropped up first during questioning of other IM members Gauhar Aziz Khomani and Mohammad Tarique Anjum Hasan (both natives of Darbhanga).His role is also being examined in the Jama Masjid attack case. A Red Corner Notice was also issued against him in May.
Sources say since the formation of Indian Mujahideen in 2003, he used to visit several places and collect funds for Jihadi activities. He was in direct touch with Riyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal. During the interrogation of 13 IM terrorists, Delhi Police investigators learned that the IM boss, Ahmad Zarrar Siddibappa alias Yasin Bhatkal, used to make regular calls to Saudi Arabia. They suspect those calls were made to Fasih.
The Fasih deportation differs from that of Jundal, primarily because there was little doubt about the former's nationality. While Jundal was picked up in Saudi Arabia with Pakistani documents, Fasih had Indian identification on him. Ironically, the case against Fasih was helped by his wife, Nikhat Parveen, who filed a habeas corpus regarding his disappearance, accusing the Indian authorities of hiding him.
India's efforts to have him deported, however, got complicated because of legal reasons. Though he was part of IM since his days in the Engineering College at Bhatkal, he was never charge sheeted for his involvement. In fact, he was detained by Saudi authorities allegedly for a minor visa-related offence.
It took a while for the Indians to put together a credible documentation on him. The charge sheet against Fasih in the Chinnaswamy Stadium case came after he was detained by the Saudi authorities. In addition, Fasih insisted he was not Indian, though his wife’s legal efforts put paid to that bid.
Times of India
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Fasih is a big catch: Agencies
Neeraj Chauhan & Raj Shekhar
23 Oct, 2012
New Delhi: Named as suspect in two Chargesheets filed by Special Cell on September 20 one in Meer Vihar factory of Indian Mujahideen and another against 26/11 handler Syed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, Fasih Mohammad (32) is considered a big catch by agencies.
The reason, sources say, is that he knows a lot about Indian Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives, their hideouts, organisations funding sources and routes, modules all over India and next targets of the group. Sources also said that Fasih could be in touch with Abu Jundal and Fayyaz Kagzi as well when they were in Saudi Arabia.
We are questioning him about his contacts and meetings with operatives in Saudi Arabia, said the source.
Intelligence officials claim that he came in touch with Bhatkal brothers in 2003 through Tarique Anjum Hasan, who was arrested by Special Cell as part of crackdown on Indian Mujahideen in November-December 2011.Subsequently, another IM terrorist Kafeel had made calls to Fasih regularly, sources said.
While in engineering college in Bhatkal, he met Lashkar members Bhatkal brothers and they all decided to form Indian Mujahideen to avenge Gujarat riots and carry blasts in the country. Bhatkal brothers, who were already in close touch with Amir Reza Khan of Lashkar-e-Toiba. He is also suspected to have also gone to Pakistan for training, said sources. Apart from doing his job, he was reportedly meeting Lashkar operatives in Saudi and was tasked to collect funds there, added the source.
His name had first cropped up during interrogation of Gauhar Aziz Khomani and Tarique Anjum in November 2011 when Special Cell busted a module of 13 IM terrorists and busted an arms factory run by IM Chief Yasin Bhatkal alias Ahmad Zarar Siddibappa.Fasihs involvement in Chinnaswamy stadium blast of April 2010 and Meer Vihar factory in November 2011 has already been established while he is also being probed for his active role in Jama Masjid attack.
Fasih comes from an educated family of Darbhanga, Bihar.
Times of India
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-terrorism-jihad/saudis-finally-hand-indian-mujahideen/d/9073