Yasin Bhatkal

Yasin Bhatkal
Born	Mohammed Ahmad Siddibapaa (1983-01-15) 15 January 1983 Bhatkal, Uttara Kannada, Karnataka, India
Nationality	Indian
Occupation	Founder of Indian Mujahideen
Years active	2007–2013
Criminal status	In Prison
Allegiance	Indian Mujahideen
Conviction(s)	19 December 2016
Criminal charge	Sedition, Criminal conspiracy
Penalty	Death penalty
Date apprehended	28 August 2013

Mohammed Ahmed Siddibappa, named Yasin Bhatkal by Indian investigative agencies, was the founder leader of the proscribed terrorist organisation Indian Mujahideen (IM). He was listed on the NIA Most Wanted until his arrest on the India-Nepal border near Motihari, Bihar on 28 August 2013. Questions were raised after his arrest that whether Yasin undertook arms and explosive training in Pakistan or not. He has been sentenced to death by a NIA court in Hyderabad on 19 December 2016.

Early life

Ahmed Siddibapa was born on 15 January 1983 to Zarar Siddibapa and Rehana. He studied until the 10th grade at Bhatkal, Karnataka. After not being able to clear his 10th-grade examination he left for Dubai in November 2005. According to his family, Ahmed disappeared from Dubai in January 2007. Few years back he married a girl named Zahida at New Delhi. He told her that he was Imran hailing from Lucknow. Since 2010, he was living in the guise of Dr. Shahrukh, a Unani Doctor at Pokhara, Nepal.

Terrorism

Bhatkal is accused of direct involvement in over 10 separate bombings in India. These include the 2008 Delhi bombings and the 2010 Varanasi blasts. He is also suspected to have played an active role in the 2006 Mumbai serial train bombings.

2008 Ahmedabad bombings

According to Ahmedabad Crime Branch, Bhatkal arrived in Ahmedabad in July 2008, where he rented a house in Danilimda along with Asadullah Akhtar alias Haddi. The bombs used to carry out the series of 21 bomb blasts in the city on 26 July 2008 were made in the rented premises.

2010 Bangalore stadium bombing

Main article: 2010 Bangalore stadium bombing

In 2010, the Karnataka investigators had alleged that the attacks were likely to have been carried out by a jihadist cell led by Karachi based jihadist, Riyaz Ismail Shahbandri's key lieutenant Yasin. Soon after the arrest of several of Sidibapa's alleged associates from Darbhanga, in Bihar police began investigating Fasih Mehmood's possible role in the cell.

2012 Pune bombing

Indian Investigators suspect Yasin, had planted one of the bombs on Jangli Maharaj road on 1 August, when four low-intensity blasts occurred in Pune.

Capture and interrogation

Yasin was traced and detained at the India-Nepal border in Nepal near Raxaul by a team of undercover Indian police on 28 August 2013. For this reason the name of none of those officers have been made public. He was the second big catch for Indian security agencies after the arrest of Abdul Karim Tunda, a key Lashkar-e-Taiba operative and expert bomb-maker, who was arrested from the India-Nepal border on 16 August. "He is presently in the custody of Bihar Police. His interrogation is going on", said the Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde at the time. The arrest of Yasin alias Ahmed Siddibappa alias Shahrukh is being seen as a major breakthrough in the agencies' protracted efforts to break the back of the Indian Mujahideen, the Lashkar-e-Taiba-backed indigenous jihadi outfit behind the Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Pune and Jaipur blasts. "This is the biggest success after the Batla House operation, following which the IM was forced to slow down its activities," said an intelligence official. The Bollywood movie India’s Most Wanted is based on how the undercover team planned and executed his capture.

On 31 August 2013, during initial interrogation, Bhatkal admitted to recruiting young men from Bihar for terror attacks across the country. Yasin Bhatkal admitted his involvement in carrying out the 2011 triple blasts in Mumbai. He admitted to the investigative agency that he was the mastermind behind the blasts and he is satisfied with whatever he has done and had no remorse or regret whatsoever.

Bhatkal, and his associate Ashadullah Akhtar, was flown from Delhi to Ahmedabad by a special Border Security Force (BSF) plane on 6 April 2017 for interrogation by the Ahmedabad Crime Branch. Crime Branch had sought a transfer warrant for both men in August 2013, accusing them involvement in the 2008 Ahmedabad bombings. However, Section 268 of the Code of Criminal Procedure under which both were detained, bars the transfer of an accused delaying the transfer.

Trial and sentencing

The NIA filed two chargesheets against Bhatkal, Zia-ur-Rehman alias Waqas, Asadullah Akhtar alias Haddi, Tahaseen Akhtar and Aijaz Sheikh in 2014. The NIA alleged that "Bhatkal, along with other conspirators, developed different modules and sleeper cells in Delhi, Darbhanga in Bihar, Nanded, Mumbai, Pune, Bhatkal in Karnataka and Hyderabad." All five men were put on trial in the NIA court Cherlapally Central Prison. The trial began in August 2015 and concluded on 7 November 2016. During the trial, a total of 158 witnesses were examined, 201 pieces of material evidence were seized, and over 500 documents were produced in court. All five men were found guilty by the court on 13 November. They were convicted under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 121 (waging war against the country) and 121-A (conspiracy to wage war) of the Indian Penal Code, as well as the Arms Act and various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Bhatkal is currently lodged at Tihar Jail in Delhi.

Arms training in Pakistan

Indian Media claims that Yasin Bhatkal allegedly entered Pakistan in early 2006 on a regular commercial flight from Dubai even though he did not have a visa and was whisked away from the aircraft by his contacts to avoid immigration checks. Yasin was taken to a hilly region with little habitation around, about 8–10 hours from Karachi and believed to be somewhere in the Pakistani province of Balochistan as Indian media's claim stated. "Next day our training started. There were six instructors, who I understand were from Pakistan army," he has allegedly said, adding that he and some other recruits were taught to handle weapons and explosives and make bombs during the training that lasted about 50 days. Yasin has told interrogators that he spent about 50 days in Pakistan undergoing training to launch terror attacks and returned to Dubai in the same manner after his hosts stamped his passport with fake immigration stamps to show that he had entered and exited India.

Popular culture

2019 Hindi film India's Most Wanted and 2021 Telugu film Wild Dog are inspired from his arrest after a long manhunt.