Gandhinagar

Two persons arrested near Indo-Nepal border including the brother of a key 1993 Mumbai blasts accused Javed Chikna, alleged to be involved in the murder of two BJP leaders at Bharuch in Gujarat, were brought here today, police said.

Based on specific inputs, Gujarat ATS officials with central agencies nabbed one Abid Dawood Patel and his accomplice Salim Ghanchi from Indo-Nepal transit point at Sunauli near Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh two days back and brought them here, Gujarat Director General of Police (DGP) P C Thakur told reporters today.

41-year-old Abid is the younger brother of key accused Javed Shaikh, also known as Javed Chikna.

“Abid played a key role in carrying out murder of two BJP leaders. He is a British citizen and came to Bharuch to arrange weapons and carry out the killings at the behest of his brother Javed Chikna, who is accused in 1993 serial blast case and still absconding,” said the DGP.

Two BJP leaders, including former party president of Bharuch district and senior RSS member Shirish Bangali, general secretary of Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha of Bharuch district Pragnesh Mistry, were shot dead allegedly by two gunmen in Bharuch on November 2.

Later, ATS took over the probe from Bharuch Police and nabbed nine persons allegedly involved in the conspiracy, including two sharpshooters.

The contract for killing BJP leaders was allegedly given by absconding Javed Chikna, apparently to avenge riots in Mumbai during 1993 and in Gujarat during 2002.

The contract killing assignment was given allegedly by Chikna to one of the arrested accused Imran Kadri, who then took help of eight others to carry out the murders, said ATS Superintendent of Police Himanshu Shukla.

“Abid belongs to Kantharia village of Bharuch. He went to UK in 2003 and subsequently became a British citizen. Before the murders, he was in Bharuch to supervise the whole operation. He was constantly receiving instructions from Chikna through phone,” said Shukla.

After the murders, Abid and his friend Ghanchi, who helped Abid to procure weapons, went to Delhi and then to Nepal, from where, Abid and Ghanchi were supposed to fly to another country with the help of Chikna, said Shukla.

“But due to some technical issues related to their visa, Abid and Ghanchi were forced to return to India to acquire doctor’s certificate needed for the visa. As soon as they crossed the border at Sunauli, we nabbed them on November 2,” said Shukla.

With these two arrests, a total of 11 accused involved in the case, including two sharp shooters are now in the custody of ATS, which has also recovered five pistols, 32 cartridges, two cars, two bikes and Rs 80,000 from the arrested accused till date, added Shukla.

DGP Thakur said that NIA will soon take over the probe in the murder case as announced by the Gujarat government.

“I had a talk with Home Ministry officials yesterday about it. They told me that the order to take over the probe has been issued to NIA and it will reach them soon,” said DGP.

PTI