Akshardham Temple attack: Gujarat ATS nabs accused Mohammad Yasin Bhat from J&K

Mohammad Yasin Bhat, alleged prime conspirator of the 2002 Akshardham Temple attack was arrested and brought to the city by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) following a transit remand from Anantnag in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday.

Bhat, one of the accused in the case allegedly provided help in supplying and transporting the weapons including AK-47 assault rifles from PoK to Jammu and Kashmir for the attack. Two armed men attacked the Akshardham temple complex in Gandhinagar, killing over 30 including an NSG commando and injuring several others.

According to a release from the department, Bhat, who is associated with the terror group Lashkar-e- Taiba, had fled to Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) after the attack.

He was nabbed following a tip-off that he had returned to Jammu and Kashmir and was working at a timber warehouse in Anantnag.

The arrest was a result of a joint operation between the Gujarat ATS and the  J&K police. After obtaining his transit remand from a court there, the ATS team arrived with Bhat at the Ahmedabad airport on Friday evening, the release added.

Six other convicts had been set free by the Supreme Court on May 2014 in the case for want of sufficient evidence against them. The six were awarded death sentence by the trial court in the state.

In 2018, the Ahmedabad crime branch had arrested another accused Mohammed Farooq Shaikh (47) after he arrived in the city from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Shaikh a resident of Juhapura had fled to Riyadh after the attack. He was accused of providing funds for the attack.