Yasin Bhatkal planning jail break with ISIS help

A five-minute-long chat between Indian Mujahideen boss Yasin Bhatkal and his wife has sent authorities into a tizzy, leading them to scale up security arrangements at Hyderabad prison where Bhatkal, mastermind of many jihadi attacks, is lodged, and discuss alternative plans where he could be secured better.

During the chat, Yasin told his wife he would be out soon with help from Damascus.


The authorities are particularly worried about the Damascus angle, the capital of Syria, a big part of which is now in Islamic State's control and has been used as a launch pad for jihadi offensives not just in its neigbourhood but far from its shores. Though confined to Syria and neigbouring Iraq, IS has supplanted Al Qaida as the leading jihadi group in notoriety.

The group has adroitly blended its extremist interpretation of Islam and modern communication tools to find recruits across the globe, as well as to inspire 'lone wolf' attacks, like the recent ones in France.


Agencies suspect IS could help Bhatkal by enlisting the support of Ansar-ul-Tawhid Fi Bilad Al Hind (AuT), the jihadi group that had tweeted pictures of the two terrorists killed in the Batla House encounter in 2008 and called them martyrs. This was first reported by TOI last September.


Intriguingly, AuT has been at loggerheads with the Indian Mujahideen to which Bhatkal belongs, and consists of IM operatives who rebelled against the leadership of Riyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal in order to join the jihad in Afghanistan. Yasin Bhatkal's conversations, a source said, point to an effort by IS to repair the rift between the rival factions of IM.
AuT last year uploaded three different videos with subtitles in Hindi, Tamil and Urdu with messages from various IS operatives, including the Friday sermon of its chief Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi in which he called for jihad against India among other countries.

It had also uploaded videos condoling the death of an Indian jihadist who died fighting in Afghanistan even as it carried a video message by a former IM operative calling Indians for global jihad.


Bhatkal is learnt to have made at least 10 calls to his wife who lives in Jamia Nagar, southeast Delhi, and his hope of getting out soon has been a common thread through most of the conversations. The agencies have also established that the IM commander spoke to some anti-social elements he had met in judicial custody.

Worried by what they have gathered, agencies have written to Hyderabad jail and security has been beefed up there. They are particularly intrigued by the Damascus bit.
All those people including his family members who met Bhatkal after his arrest are being scanned for clues.

The conversations also bring out the softer side of Bhatkal's personality. The hardcore jihadi, who has shown no remorse for killing innocents, is a loving husband. It was his fondness for Zahida which helped Indian agencies track him down to his hideout in Nepal. Bhatkal had sent Rs 1 lakh home as 'eidi' (gift) to Zahida before Eid in 2013 through hawala. The cash along with a mobile phone was delivered to Zahida at her Delhi house by Bhatkal's deputy Tehsin Akhtar alias Monu.

Bhatkal soon started chatting with Zahida on that mobile, helping intelligence agencies, already tracking the route of hawala transfer, map his location in Nepal near Pokhara. He also promised to be with her for the rest of his life and make sure that she faced no difficulties.


(image credits: delhidailynews.com)