Seven years after Mulund train blast, accused nabbed
By IANSMonday, May 10, 2010
MUMBAI - Seven years after a bomb ripped through a suburban train and killed 13 commuters at Mulund in northeast Mumbai, the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) Monday traced and arrested one of the prime accused in the terror attack, police said.
W. Murtuza alias Babu, 44, was on the run since the March 13, 2003, blast. He was nabbed from his embroidery workshop in LBS Road in Kurla in eastern Mumbai Monday morning, ATS chief Rakesh Maria told reporters.
Babu was presented before a magistrate and remanded in police custody till May 19, he said.
“His role in the Mulund 2003 train blast has been clearly spelt out in the charge sheet of the case. He is a trained Karate black belt. Besides him, six more accused in the same case are still absconding,” Maria added.
The ATS chief revealed that Babu was also involved in the blasts at McDonald’s in Mumbai Central and at Vile Parle railway stations.
A bomb exploded at the McDonald’s outlet in Mumbai Central Terminus Dec 6, 2002, barely a few minutes before the Mumbai-New Delhi Rajdhani Express was scheduled to depart. At least 22 people were injured.
On Jan 27, 2003, a day after India’s Republic Day, a blast went off outside Vile Parle station, injuring 30 people.
“He underwent terrorist training at Padgha village of Thane and also arranged to help assemble the explosives used in the three blasts,” Maria said.
Preliminary investigations have revealed that Babu was a close associate of Taher, another accused in the same case, and is also a friend of Iqbal Bhatkal, said to be one of the founding fathers of the terror outfit Indian Mujahiddeen (IM).
“Babu becomes the 17th accused to be nabbed in the Mulund blast case and is the first of the seven absconders,” he said.
Babu, father of five children, hails from Siddharthnagar in Uttar Pradesh and runs embroidery workshops in central Mumbai’s Dharavi and Kurla areas.
He has been living in Mumbai since before the 2003 blast and was continuously shifting to rented accommodations in places like Kurla, Wagle Estate in Thane, Goregaon, Dharavi and other areas.
