Original plan was to eliminate Modi at hotel, says IM operative

 Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative Imtiaz, who was caught red-handed while fleeing from the blast site at Patna junction on October 27, is believed to have told his interrogators that the original plan was to eliminate BJP prime-ministerial candidate Narendra Modi at the gate of a posh hotel in Patna in which he had checked in on the day of rally.

The revelation, which may lead to wide ramifications, comes after eight days of sustained interrogation of Imtiaz by the Bihar police, sleuths of Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Apart from Modi, two other senior BJP leaders, including party president Rajnath Singh and leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley, were also on the IM radar. Modi had checked into a posh hotel, just 100 metres away from the rally venue, along with a battery of journalists flown in from New Delhi.

Sources close to the interrogators said Imtiaz disclosed that he received an in-depth training on how to make and plant bombs and was supposed to plant a bomb at the entrance gate of the posh hotel. “The entire instruction was being given by the Pakistan-based IM leader Riaz Bhatkal, brother of Yasin Bhatkal. It was on Riaz’s directive that Tehsin Akhtar – the brain behind the blast – met me, trained me rigorously and asked me to plant a time bomb at the gate of the hotel where Modi was supposed to stay,” Imtiaz is believed to have told the interrogators.

The revelations came following the seizure of nine live bombs fitted with timer devices from a private lodge in Ranchi where one of the six accused, Haider Ali, stayed. Imtiaz admitted that the bombs were prepared at the Ranchi lodge on the instruction of Riaz Bhatkal. “Had another accused, Ainul, not erred while setting the timer in the toilet located on Platform No 10 of Patna junction (following which it exploded), the devastation would have been enormous,” he is believed to have said.
DGP confirms IM hand

Bihar DGP Abhayanand on Wednesday confirmed that IM was behind Patna blasts and the plot was hatched in Ranchi but denied reports in a section of media that Ainul (who eventually died) was a human bomb.

“The Lotus watch used as timers in Patna as well as Bodh Gaya blasts shows that it was the same group which carried out explosions at both the places,” the DGP said.
“The only difference is that the improvised explosive devices (IEDs) used in Patna were of high quality (compared to Bodh Gaya) and would have caused damage to 20-25 persons at a time,” a senior police officer said on condition of anonymity. The fresh disclosure by Imtiaz would, however, lend credence to the BJP’s charge that Modi was on the IM target on the rally day.

Abhayanand, who defended his cops, is believed to have told the Central team from Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) that Advance Security Liaison (ASL) was conducted for the dais and the D-security area in front of the main stage (not the entire venue) and that is why no bombs could be planted in the D-area.

Even Imtiaz later admitted that due to tight security in the early morning, the IM operatives could not plant bombs either near the dais or the hotel gate. But the Central team contested the police security arrangements and wondered if 8,500 police personnel, including 10 SPs, 27 DSPs, 91 inspectors and 1305 sub-inspectors, were deployed there, how come bombs were recovered even three days after the rally.
“Was the deployment merely on paper,” a senior MHA official is believed to have asked a Bihar top cop.