Bihar

One of the bombers, arrested last month in, reveals that the fourth device, placed under a foot-over-bridge at Dadar’s flower market, did not go off.There was a fourth bomb that did not go off on July 13, 2011, when three blasts left 27 people dead and over a hundred injured across Opera House, Zaveri Bazaar and Dadar kabutarkhana in Mumbai.Asadullah Akhtar, alias Haddi, one of the planters, who was arrested along with Indian Mujahideen mastermind Yaseen Bhatkal last month from Bihar, has told interrogators that Yaseen and another planter Hassan had placed an explosives-filled pressure cooker under the Dadar foot-overbridge near the flower market on the western side of the railway station. But this bomb did not go off.The three blasts that shook Mumbai had all gone off between 6.54 pm and 7.06 pm, which is peak rush hour at Dadar station. If the fourth bomb had exploded, it would have probably killed more people than the other three blasts put together.This is the first time that the presence of a fourth 13/7 bomb has been revealed. Since nobody other than the bombers knew about it, the bomb was never recovered. It’s now assumed that it was picked up by a rag-picker and its contents emptied into a garbage bin.In his interrogation report, Asadullah has blamed Yaseen for the no-blow at the Dadar station. According to him, while the other three bombs were made of a wet gel mixture of ammonium nitrate, the fourth pressure cooker, on Yaseen’s insistence, was filled with dry granule ammonium nitrate.The three bombs exploded within minutes of each other -- Zaveri Bazaar at 6.54 pm, Opera House 6.55 pm, and Kabutarkhana at 7.06 pm.While Yaseen and another planter identified as Hassan placed the bombs at Kabutarkhana and Dadar station, Asadullah and Waqas, who is still on the run, placed the pressure cookers at Zaveri Bazaar and Opera House.After the blasts, Asadullah and Waqas returned to their hideout in Byculla, where they had stayed for nearly four months and planned the operation.Asadullah’s interrogation report provides a detailed account of how the triple blasts were planned and executed.It all started in January 2011, when Riyaz Bhatkal, IM’s top boss, instructed Yaseen to rent an apartment in Mumbai. Yaseen was told that the group planned to carry out serial blasts in the city and it would require a base to house people, plan the operation, and put together the explosives.Yaseen managed to rent the Byculla apartment in March 2011 and called Asadullah and Waqas, suspected to be a Pakistani, to Mumbai. They arrived from Darbhanga by a train and were received by Yaseen at CST station.The apartment was arranged with the help of a certain Naqi. His elder brother was in the construction business and had an on-going project at Nalla Sopara. Asadullah joined Naqi’s brother as a supervisor, while Waqas joined a mobile repair course.Yaseen mostly stayed in the apartment and took care of the group’s expenditure with money received through hawala from Riyaz. The apartment was rented at Rs 10,000 a month.Yaseen left for Delhi in April, but Asadullah and Waqas continued receiving money sent by Riyaz via Dubai.Afew days later, they were instructed to meet an unidentified person at the Panvel railway station. This person gave them some cash, fake voter IDs, a phone, a SIM card and two ID cards. One ID card in Daniyal Khan’s name carried Asadullah’s photo, while the other in Waqas Ibrahim’s name had Waqas’s.Yaseen returned to Mumbai On June 15 and told the group that the blasts will be carried out in July and asked Asadullah and Waqas to travel to Mangalore to bring the explosives.The duo took a Neeta Travels bus from Sion and reached Hampanakatta bus stand in Mangalore. As per instructions, Asadullah switched on his phone as soon as they got off the bus. Soon after, he got a call from a local PCO and was told to come to Kasturba Medical College Hospital.At the hospital, a young man handed them a large travel bag of around 25 kg and a backpack of around 7 kg. The two returned to Mumbai with the bags.The bags contained small tubes with ammonium nitrate and nitroglycerine gel. The backpack contained dry granules of ammonium nitrate and a small box with 25 electronic detonators.A few days later, another IM operative Hassan, who eventually planted the bombs at Dadar with Yaseen, joined the group. He was, however, asked to take up accommodation elsewhere.Asadullah, Waqas and Yaseen carried out a recce of Mumbai and identified Zaveri Bazaar, Dadar railway station, Opera House, Colaba market and Nariman Point as targets.Waqas, by now, had begun putting together the IED circuits and the targets had been pared down to four -- Dadar railway station, Kabutarkhana, Zaveri Bazaar and Opera House.On July 12, a day before the blasts, Yaseen and Waqas stole two scooters from Pydhonie and parked one near Zaveri Bazaar and the other at Opera House.On July 13, all four pressure cookers with IEDs were assembled by Waqas. Three cookers of 5 litres each were filled with wet gel mixture of ammonium Nitrate and the fourth was packed with dry granule ammonium nitrate. The cookers were then wrapped in plastic bags and placed in large handbags.They all left the apartment at 4 pm. Hassan joined Yaseen at Dadar railway station. Asadullah placed the IED under the seat of the scooter that was parked near the Zaveri Bazaar by Yaseen and Waqas the previous night. He then rode the scooty deep into Zaveri Bazaar and parked it near an eatery.Waqas placed the other IED near a Gujarati papad stall at Opera House. Yaseen and Hassan placed one IED under the steps of the foot overbridge at the flower market near Dadar railway station and the other at a bus stop at Kabutarkhana.