Ahmedabad: The city crime branch has taken custody of 2008 bomb blasts accused Abdul Sathar, an operative of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).
Sathar, a resident of Aluva in Kerala, was lodged in Ernakulam prison in Kerala and his custody was taken from the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
The NIA had arrested Sathar last month from the national capital in connection with a probe in the unlawful training of SIMI cadres in Kerala.
"Sathar was taken into custody on Friday night. He is on remand till September 23. We are investigating his role in organising the Vagamon camp in Kottayam in Kerala and the subsequent blasts in Ahmedabad," Crime Branch Joint Commissioner of Police (JCP) A K Sharma said.
Sathar was allegedly a middle-rung operative of the SIMI and was declared a proclaimed offender by the NIA. An Interpol notice was already out against him.
"He had organised two four-wheelers for the camp. He had brought two Scorpio SUVs and was driving one of them," Sharma said.
"Also, airguns were purchased from Kochi by his brother for training in the camp. The decision to organise bomb blasts in various cities of India, including Ahmedabad, was taken in the camp," Sharma said, adding he will be questioned on various Indian Mujahideen modules.
Police said that so far he had revealed nothing about knowing Yasin Bhatkal, who was picked up from the Indo-Nepal border on August 29.
The crime branch, the investigating agency of the 26/7 blasts cases which killed 56 people in the city, had sought Sathar's custody after his name was mentioned as a conspirator in the Civil Hospital blast case registered at Shahibaug police station.
The NIA's 2010 FIR about the Vagamon camp case had said, "Members of the banned organisation SIMI, conducted a three-day training camp at Vagamon in Kottayam district, Kerala and underwent a course in physical training and arms training, including firing practice, rock climbing, motorbike racing, manufacture of petrol bombs and also made speeches about Jihad in India to incite participants wage war against the government of India."
The agency had filed a charge sheet in the case in a special court in Ernakulum last year against 38 accused, out of which 35 have been arrested so far.
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