Indian Mujahideen planned to carry out nuclear attack on Surat to avenge Gujarat killings : chargesheet

Mumbai: The 272-page chargesheet filed by National Investigation Agency against Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal makes hair-raising revelations. Yasin Bhatkal told his interrogators that he asked Riyaz Bhatkal whether a "small nuclear bomb" could be arranged to nuke Surat, India's diamond hub, to which his brother replied "anything can be arranged in Pakistan". The plan did not materialize after Yasin was arrested, says the chargesheet. The chargesheet also reveals how two Azamgarh militants, Abu Rashid and Bada Sajid, experts at making bombs, are handling IM training camps in Waziristan and Afghan border. It also reveals that the IM has begun shifting its bases to al-Qaeda safehouses in north Waziristan, after serious differences cropped up between the Pakistani spy agency SI and IM. The chargesheet also discloses there is a split in Indian Mujahideen itself, as its militants are not happy with Karachi-based Iqbal Bhatkal's lavish second marriage with a Pakistani woman, who does not conform to Islamic way of life, with Iqbal splurging "jihad funds" on his wife's luxuries. The chargesheet also reveals how ISI arrested top IM leaders Riyaz Bhatkal and Iqbal Bhatkal after the IM carried out serial train blasts in July 2006 in Mumbai, which resulted in the deaths of 187 persons.The ISI, according to disclosures in the chargesheet, wanted IM to postpone the serial train blasts as Pakistan feared international scrutiny. The ISI, says the chargesheet, seized the belongings of Riyaz Bhatkal and Iqbal Bhatkal, tortured themin custody for going ahead with the 2006 Mumbai serial train blasts. Yasin Bhatkal has confessed to IM's involvement in all terror attacks in India from 2006, except the nine blasts in Bodhgaya last year. The terror attacks carried out by IM include 2006 serial blasts in Varanasi (28 killed), July 2006 serial train blasts in Mumbai (187 killed), Hyderabad twin blasts in Aug 2007 (42 killed), November 2007 blasts in Varanasi, Faizabad and Lucknow courts (15 killed), May 2008 Jaipur blasts (63 killed), July 2008 serial blasts in Ahmedabad (56 killed), September 13 and Sept 27 blasts in Delhi (33 killed), German Bakery blast in Pune in Feb 2010 (17 killed), Bangalore stadium blast in April 2010 (15 injured) and Mumbai serial blasts in July 2011 (26 killed).