Shahrukh purchased property to evade police verification

Interrogation of the six alleged militants of Indian Mujahideen (IM) has revealed that Shahrukh alias Ahmad Siddi Bappa had made Delhi the centrepoint of his anti-India operations, sources said.

Interrogation of the six alleged militants of Indian Mujahideen (IM) has revealed that Shahrukh alias Ahmad Siddi Bappa had made Delhi the centrepoint of his anti-India operations, sources said.

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Shahrukh is the head of IM’s pan-India module and is on the run. Meanwhile, Delhi Police on Thursday announced a R15 lakh reward for anyone who could provide information about him. The reward has been increased from R3 lakh, announced earlier in April 2010.

Police sources also revealed that Shahrukh had purchased a two-room property in Nangloi’s Meer Vihar. A cache of explosives, arms and ammunition — purchased by him — was recovered from this house on Wednesday evening following a raid by Delhi Police’s special cell.

The property in Nangloi is in Shahrukh’s father-in-law Irshad Khan’s name. Khan is currently in police custody.

Khan had been running a welding shop from the property, sources said. The property was purchased to be used as a safe hideout and to avoid the tenant/servant verification drive of the Delhi Police, that had become stringent following the Batla House encounter.

“Khan has disclosed that Shahrukh purchased the hose through hawala money sent to him by his handlers in Pakistan. It was Khan who had earlier provided him a safe hideout in south Delhi’s Jamia Nagar when Delhi Police was looking for him after the Batla House encounter,” said the senior officer. Shahrukh was also a part of the Mohammad Gajnavi brigade, the module responsible for 2008 Delhi serial blasts.

Khan met Shahrukh in 2009, a couple of months after the 2008 Delhi serial blasts, and provided him a hide-out. “He became a close aide of Shahrukh. Khan hails from Samastipur, Bihar, a district bordering Nepal. With his help, Shahrukh managed to carry forward IM’s mission of recruiting new and young faces in Bihar. In return, he purchased the Meer Vihar property for Khan and also married his daughter last year,” the officer added.