Did IM blast Pune to avenge Aftab penalty?

The investigators probing the Pune blast now firmly believe it is connected to the Calcutta High Court’s February 5 decision to uphold the death penalty to Aftab Ansari, an accused in the 2002 Kolkata American Centre attack in which five policemen were killed and 14 seriously injured.

The shooting turned out to be part of a worldwide terror strategy with links to the 9/11 attacks in the US. Ansari had been given death sentence by a CBI court in April 2005.

On January 22, 2002, Sadiq Shaikh and Idris Zahid rode to the city’s United States Information Service (USIS) center on a bike armed with AK56 assault rifles. They then opened indiscriminate fire outside the centre.

Zahid was killed in an encounter in Hazaribagh area of Jharkhand four days later. Ansari, who claimed responsibility for the attack, was arrested by the Kolkata police.

Shaikh managed to evade arrest as his identity could not be clearly established. He went on to help found Indian Mujahideen (IM) and was nabbed by the Mumbai police when it busted the outfit’s Pune cell and arrested 20 of its operatives.

Though he was acquitted by the special Mcoca court for the Mumbai train blasts, he continues to be in CBI’s custody for his alleged role in the other serial blasts across the country.

Meanwhile, Asif Raza, also a member of Aftab’s gang, was shot dead in an encounter by the Gujarat police in 2003. Following this, his brother, Amir, fled to Pakistan, where he founded IM with the help of Riyaz Bhatkal.

Since Ansari and the Razas have close links, investigators believe that IM could have sought to avenge Ansari’s death penalty with the Pune blast.