Terrorists had plans of major blasts in Nehru Place: Police

New Delhi, Sep 21 (UNI) The terrorists, who carried out the September 13 blasts, had nefarious plans to blow up the busy Nehru Place area by planting as many as 20 bombs there, the Delhi Police said today.

In a sensational revelation, three Indian Mujahideen militants arrested by the Delhi Police this morning from South Delhi in connection with the serial blasts in the city, told the police that they had plans to plant as many as 20 bombs in the Nehru Place area.

''Shakeel, who was arrested this morning from the Jamia Nagar area along with Zia-Ur-Rehman and Shakir Nisar Nishar, told the police that Atif, who was killed in an ancounter with the police in Jamia Nagar on Friday, was the mastermind of the blasts in Delhi as well as Jaipur and Ahmedabad. Shakeel said Atif told him about the plan to plant 20 bombs in the Nehru Place area,'' DCP South H G S Dhaliwal told reporters here.

In fact, Shakeel told the police that Atif had nefarious plans to carry out blasts not only in Delhi but also in other parts of the country.

Mr Dhaliwal said Zia-Ur-Rehman, Shakeel and Shakir Nishar, who were arrested by the Special cell of the Delhi Police, were part of the 13-member module that were involved in planting the bombs and had also taken part in the blasts in UP, Delhi and Ahmedabad.

''Zia-Ur-Rehman and Shakeel have confessed their involvement in the September 13 Delhi blasts as well as the serial blasts in Ahmedabad.

''Zia admitted that he had planted a bomb in a bicycle in the Maninagar area of Ahmedabad in July while Shakeel admitted he had planted the bombs in the Gaffar Market on September 13,'' Mr Dhaliwal said.

The militants also informed the police that initially, two bombs were to be planted in the Gaffar market area but after one bomb turned out to be a dead one, Shakeel took one bomb in a bag in an autorickshaw at around 1730 hours and later let the autorickshaw there.

Mr Dhaliwal said the main role of this 13-member module was in the serial blasts in Delhi and Ahmedabad.

''However, Shakeel and other militants told us that Atif seemed to them to be linked to blasts in Varanasi, Lucknow, Jaipur, Faizabad and perhaps even in Surat.

''But since Atif did not share all details with them, they could not tell us about his other activities,'' Mr Dhaliwal said.

Mr Daliwal told reporters that the three terrorists were all students in the Jamia. While Zia-ur-Rehman was a student of BA (Hons), Shakeel was studying MA (Economics) and Shakir Nishar was an MBA student.

Incidentally, Zia is the son of Abdur Rehman, the caretaker of the House where the militants were staying in the Jamia Nagar area. Mr Dhaliwal said it was Zia who had recommended the case of Shakeel, Nishar and others to Abdur Rehman for keeping them as tenants in the house.

However, the police have also arrested Abdur Rehman in connection with fake tenant verification papers.

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