Patna, Feb 19: The man considered to be the mastermind behind the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts is among the 38 out of 49 people who have been given death penalty by a special court. Taushif Pathan, lodged in central jail in Bihar’s Gaya, had appeared in the court proceeding through video conferencing.
“When the court had announce death penalty to 38 terrorists including Taushif Pathan, we increased the security in and outside the jail. We are closely monitoring his activities,” Vijay Kumar Arora, Superintendent of Gaya central jail, said on Friday.
Sources said that when the court had announced death penalty, he went under extreme shock. He was mumbling while watching the screen. The security personnel present inside the room were, however, unable to hear the voice.
After the serial blasts in Ahmedabad, Pathan fled and secretly lived in Gaya. He was staying at a rented accommodation in Rajendra Ashram locality.
After few months of silence, he started recruiting new members to set up a terror network for banned terror outfit Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).
A top official of Gaya prison said: “He used to go to a cyber cafe to find potential members having extremist ideology and establish communications to other members to pass the messages. Anurag Basu, the operator of that cyber cafe, detected his suspicious activities for the first time. He managed to establish that Taushif was involved in terror activities. Accordingly, he informed the police.”
The police had arrested Taushif Pathan on September 15, 2017. After a few days, Ahmedabad police arrived in Gaya and took him on the transit remand. After 12 days of interrogation, he was taken to Ahmedabad on September 27, 2017 to present him in the court.
After completion of investigation in serial blast 2008, he was sent back to Gaya on March 9, 2020. Since then, he has been staying in Gaya central jail. Gaya police have also registered FIR under forgery and IT act. (IANS)