MUMBAI: A suspected hawala operator, who allegedly handed over Rs 10 lakh to fugitive Indian Mujahiddin top operative Yasin Bhatkal for executing the July 13 triple blasts that killed 27 people here, has been arrested from Delhi, the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad said on Wednesday.
“In a joint operation with Delhi Police’s special cell, the main hawala operator, Kanwar Nain Wazeer Chand Patrija (42), who hails from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, was arrested from Delhi yesterday and brought to Mumbai,” Maharashtra ATS chief Rakesh Maria said.
“Patrija had facilitated the payment used for commissioning the blasts. He was produced before a court today which remanded him in police custody till February 9,” the ATS chief said.
Patrija, who runs a jewellery shop named Jyoti Jewellers in a rented premise in Chandni Chowk in Delhi, had handed over Rs 10 lakh in cash to Bhatkal and the entire money was used to trigger the coordinated explosions, Maria said.
Patrija, who is the third person to be arrested in connection with the blasts, had received instructions from abroad following which he gave the cash to Bhatkal early last year. Maria refused to disclose the location where Bhatkal and the arrested accused had met.
Patrija’s arrest came in the backdrop of the ATS on June 23 claiming a breakthrough with the arrest of two alleged Indian Mujahideen operatives, namely Naqi Ahmed Wasi Ahmed Sheikh (22) and Nadeem Akhtar Ashfaq Sheikh (23), originally from Bihar’s Darbhanga district, who already were in the ATS custody in connection with a forgery case. (PTI)