Yasin’s arrest brings about sense of relief to his family at Bhatkal

MANGALORE: The capture of India’s most-wanted terrorist, Indian Mujahideen operative Yasin Bhatkal, has surprisingly brought about a sense relief to his beleaguered parents, Rehana and Zarar Siddibapa, at Bhatkal (Karnataka). Till his arrest was flashed on electronic media, they had thought he had been killed in an encounter.

Zarar Siddibapa, father of Ahmed Siddibapa ie Yasin Bhatkal said : We are extremely relieved that Ahmed Siddibapa has been arrested according to the media reports. We are relieved because the truth will come out and our fears that he would be eliminated in a fake encounter have been set to rest. Till now we thought that he was no more. My boy is innocent. We will fight the case in the court.

According to his father, Ahmed accompanied him to Dubai in 2005 to set up a shop and went missing in 2007. “We informed Dubai police and they said he may have fled as he is wanted in a cheque bounce case.” He is known as Ahmed and family claims that Yasin is the alias given by the police and media.

Zarar and Ahmed Siddibapa’s (Yasin Bhatkal) uncle Yaqub Siddibapain a press statement said that there are lots of falsehoods being spread in the media about Ahmed.

According to them Ahmed Siddibapa was born in 1983. He studied at Bhatkal from first standard to SSLC. They claimed that he had never set foot in Pune until he disappeared from Dubai. They further said Ahmed could not clear SSLC and left for Dubai in November of 2005 and Ahmed disappeared from Dubai in January 2007. Despite the best efforts of the family and the Dubai Intelligence, Ahmed Sidibapa could not be traced,” they said.

Sources said that Dubai police had told the family that Ahmed disappeared as a cheque given by him had bounced.

Meanwhile, Inspector General of Police (Western Range) Pratap Reddy said there were no cases registered in police stations under Western Range, including Bhatkal, against Yasin. But Mangalore police have a case registered against in Ullal police station limits in 2008.

He has been booked under Indian Penal Code sections relating to criminal conspiracy, abetting war against India, collecting arms against waging war, promoting enmity within different groups and also Indian Explosives act, based on statements of alleged IM operatives held during a module bust in 2008.

TOI