Yasin Bhatkal

Yasin Bhatkal
Born	Syed Mohammed Ahmed Zarar Siddibappa (1983-01-15) 15 January 1983 (age 41) Bhatkal, Karnataka, India
Nationality	Indian
Other names	Shahrukh, Yusuf
Education	Anjuman Hami-e-Muslimeen, Bhatkal
Occupation	Co-founder of Indian Mujahideen
Years active	2007–2013
Known for	2010 Pune bombing 2010 Bangalore stadium bombing 2011 Mumbai bombings 2012 Pune bombings 2013 Hyderabad blasts
Criminal status	Death row
Spouse	Zahida Irshad Khan ​ (m. 2010)​
Allegiance	Indian Mujahideen
Conviction(s)	Waging war against nation, criminal conspiracy and murder (19 December 2016)[1]
Criminal charge	Sedition, criminal conspiracy
Penalty	Death penalty
Date apprehended	28 August 2013
Imprisoned at	Tihar Jail, Delhi

Syed Mohammed Ahmed Zarar Siddibappa (born 15 January 1983),^[2] known as Yasin Bhatkal, is a convicted Indian Islamist terrorist, who was the co-founder and leader of the proscribed terrorist organisation Indian Mujahideen (IM). Yasin along with Riyaz Bhatkal and Iqbal Bhatkal (brothers, unrelated to Yasin),^[a] among others, founded the terrorist organisation around 2005.^[4][5] The jihadist group has carried out several attacks against civilian targets in India and Yasin was notably personally involved in the 2010 Pune bombing, 2010 Bangalore stadium bombing, 2011 Mumbai bombings, 2012 Pune bombings and the 2013 Hyderabad blasts.^[6][5]

He is believed to have taken arms and explosives training at a terrorist training camp in Pakistan.^[6][7] He was listed on the NIA Most Wanted until his arrest on the India–Nepal border near Raxaul (close to Motihari), Bihar on 28 August 2013.^[8][9] He has been sentenced to death by a National Investigation Agency special court in Hyderabad on 19 December 2016 for his involvement in the 2013 Hyderabad blasts and is currently incarcerated at the Tihar Jail in Delhi.^[1]

Early life

Ahmed Siddibapa was born on 15 January 1983 to Zarar Siddibappa and Rehana Siddibappa in Bhatkal, a town in the southern Indian state of Karnataka.^[3][10] He studied until the 10th grade at the Anjuman Hami-e-Muslimeen in Bhatkal, Karnataka. After not being able to clear his 10th-grade examination he left for Dubai in November 2005.^[11] According to his family, Ahmed disappeared from Dubai in January 2007.^[12] In 2010, he married Zahida Irshad Khan (born c. 1988 in Samastipur, Bihar) in New Delhi with whom he has a few children.^[13][14] He told her that he was Imran hailing from Lucknow.^[15] Since 2010, he had been living in the guise of a unani doctor (hakeem), Dr. Shahrukh or Yusuf, in Pokhara, Nepal.^[16][17]

Terrorism

Main articles: Indian Mujahideen and Students' Islamic Movement of India

He became the operational head of Indian Mujahideen when Riyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal fled post the Batla House encounter in 2008. He set up a bomb manufacturing facility in Delhi which were later used in the Delhi bombings, he had been detained for theft in 2009 in Kolkata but was let off after cops could not identify him. He also founded a terror module of the Indian Mujahideen in Darbhanga, Bihar and another in Ranchi, Jharkhand.^[18][19] Yasin is accused of direct involvement in over 10 separate bombings in India.^[20] These include the 13 September 2008 Delhi bombings, 2010 Varanasi bombing, and the 2011 Delhi bombing.^[5][21] He is also suspected to have played an active role in the 2006 Mumbai train bombings.^[22]

Bhatkal was also involved in the 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.^[20]

He was caught on CCTV while carrying out the 2012 Pune bombing and the 2013 Hyderabad blasts.^[5] 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.^[23]

Capture and interrogation

Yasin was traced and detained at the India–Nepal border in Nepal near Raxaul, Bihar by a team of undercover Indian police on 28 August 2013 following the 2013 Hyderabad blasts. It was a joint operation between the Intelligence Bureau and the Bihar Police. 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", the home minister Sushilkumar Shinde had said at the time. The arrest of Yasin was seen as a major breakthrough in the law enforcement agencies protracted efforts against the Indian Mujahideen. "This is the biggest success after the Batla House operation, following which the IM was forced to slow down its activities," an intelligence official had said.^[24][25][26]

On 31 August 2013, during initial police interrogation, Bhatkal admitted to recruiting young men from Bihar for terror attacks across the country.^[27] He admitted his involvement in carrying out the 2011 Mumbai bombings, stating that he was the mastermind behind the blasts and is unremorseful.^[28]

Yasin and his associate Asadullah Akhtar, who was captured with Yasin in 2013, 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 which had sought a transfer warrant for both men in August 2013, accusing them involvement in the 2008 Ahmedabad bombings.^[20]

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 in the 2013 Hyderabad blasts case. 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 at Cherlapally Central Jail. 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 Indian Penal Code sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 121 (waging war against the country) and 121-A (conspiracy to wage war), as well as the Arms Act and various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and were given a death-sentence.^[29][21][30]

Bhatkal is currently lodged at the Tihar Jail in Delhi.^[20]

Arms training in Pakistan

Indian intelligence sources claim that Yasin Bhatkal 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. "Next day our training started. There were six instructors, who I understand were from Pakistan army," he said after his arrest, 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.^[7]

Popular culture

The Indian films India's Most Wanted (2019) and Wild Dog (2021) and the Indian web series Indian Police Force (2024) are inspired from his arrest after a long manhunt; he is portrayed by Sudev Nair and Bilal Hossein in the films respectively.^[31][32]

Notes

1. All three are from Bhatkal in the Karnataka state of India, hence their nickname "Bhatkal".^[3]

References

1. "Yasin Bhatkal, 4 Others Sentenced To Death In 2013 Hyderabad Blasts Case". ndtv.com.
2. "Dawood can't escape, we will bring all wanted men one by one, Sushilkumar Shinde says". The Economic Times. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
3. This is Bhatkal, where commerce & religion play chicken. 19 May 2018. Newslaundry.
4. "Indian Mujahideen". The Times of India. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
5. Joshi, Sandeep (29 August 2013). "It took six months to pin him down". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
6. "Yasin Bhatkal". The Times of India. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
7. Rahul Tripathi (25 September 2013). "I was allowed to enter Karachi without visa, skip airport immigration: Yasin - Indian Express". www.indianexpress.com.
8. List
9. N Manoharan (31 August 2013). "Indian Mujahideen: After Yasin Bhatkal's Arrest - IPCS". Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies.
10. Works related to Bhatkal. Otto's encyclopedia at Wikisource
11. "Yasin Bhatkal, school dropout who graduated to terror's top ranks". Hindustan Times. 29 August 2013.
12. "Read statement by Yasin Bhatkal's family after he was arrested". Retrieved 29 August 2013.
13. "He (Yasin) is fair, goodlooking and from a nice family. Zahida se nikaah karaa denge iska". The Indian Express. 3 December 2011. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
14. Nigam, Chayyanika (20 December 2016). "Exclusive: Hyderabad twin blasts convict Yasin Bhatkal's wife says no money to feed 10 kids". India Today. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
15. "'Never knew about his marriage to Delhi girl'". The Indian Express. 2 September 2013. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
16. "Meet Dr Shahrukh, a Unani Doctor from Pokahra Nepal". Bihar Prabha. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
17. "THANKLESS INDIA". Open The Magazine. 11 September 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
18. "Revealed: how India got Yasin Bhatkal from Nepal town". Hindustan Times. 30 August 2013. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
19. "A short history of the Indian Mujahideen". The Indian Express. 24 January 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
20. "Yasin Bhatkal brought to city". The Times of India. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
21. "Yasin Bhatkal, 4 others sentenced to death for 2013 Hyderabad blasts". hindustantimes.com. 19 December 2016. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
22. Das, Shaswati (19 December 2016). "Yasin Bhatkal, 4 others get death sentence in Hyderbad blasts case". livemint.com.
23. "Yasin one of the August 1 Pune bombers?". The Times of India. 13 February 2010. Archived from the original on 12 August 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
24. "Indian Mujahideen Co-Founder Arrested". Indistan News. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
25. "Bihar Police arrests Indian Mujahideen Founder Yasin". Biharprabha News. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
26. Gaikwad, Rahi (29 August 2013). "Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin arrested". The Hindu.
27. "Yasin Bhatkal admits recruiting Bihar youth for terror attacks". Zee News.
28. "Yasin Bhatkal Admits Executing 2011 Mumbai Blasts; Has No Regrets". The Indian Republic. 5 July 2014. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
29. Das, Shaswati (19 December 2016). "Yasin Bhatkal, 4 others get death sentence in Hyderbad blasts case". Mint. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
30. "Hyderabad blast case: Yasin Bhatkal, four others get death sentence by NIA court". The Indian Express. 19 December 2016. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
31. "India's Most Wanted: All you need to know about Yasin Bhatkal, the subject of Arjun Kapoor's film". 16 May 2019.
32. "'India's Most Wanted' review: The film is an earnest attempt to tell the tale of India's unsung heroes". The Economic Times.