Yasin Bhatkal: Always a big talker

A call that is alleged to have been made by Yasin Bhatkal in which he is heard speaking about friends in Damascus coming to his rescue and helping him flee from jail is under investigation. The Hyderabad police have stepped up security at the jail where he is lodged in they say, but Yasin's mother is clearly not impressed with the story.

Rihana Siddibappa, the mother of Yasin Bhatkal informed that it seemed like a conspiracy to her. She says that the police wanted to make sure he flees from jail so that they can kill him in an encounter. The problem is that the police have filed a series of cases against him but have no evidence to prove any of the charges in court and hence this is a ploy to kill him, she also points out.

Yasin always spoke big:

Yasin Bhatkal was always a big talker. He liked to boast about various things which included carrying out spectacular attacks. In fact when he was questioned by the Bengaluru police after his arrest, he had in fact made life extremely difficult for them. There was one instance when he had even demanded for a butter dosa to be provided to him immediately failing which he had refused to speak.

When the Delhi police had questioned him, he had told them about a nuclear attack that the Indian Mujahideen was planning. He had gone to the extent of saying that his friend and relative, Riyaz Bhatkal based out of Karachi had assured of sending nuclear weapons from Pakistan to India and after this they would carry out a series of attacks.

During his questioning by the Maharashtra police, he had spoken about a big hijack plan. He had said that his men who were roaming around scot free would hijack a New Delhi- Kathmandu flight and then seek his release from jail. Interestingly none of these statements made by Yasin Bhatkal have made it to the lengthy chargesheet that has been filed against him.

No illegal access to phone:

The Hyderabad jail authorities informed that there has been no cell phone provided to him. All due process was followed when he was permitted to make a phone call to family members. He is an undertrial prisoner and there are certain rights that he has which includes making a phone call to his family after the required approvals are sought.

Yasin has made calls to his family several times from jail. His family members say that the conversations were normal in which he inquired about their well being. Moreover there is always a policeman who is next to him when he makes calls to his family.

The jail authorities say that it is highly impossible for him to escape. He is in a high security prison and getting out of there is no easy job. It would be an absolute mockery of the security if he does manage to get out.

What really needs to be probed into:

If at all Yasin has claimed that he has friends in Damascus, it is a clear indication that he has contacts in the ISIS. There are a large number of Indian Mujahideen members who have broken away to join the ISIS. In fact Yasin's friend, Sultan Armar was one of the first to break away from the Indian Mujahideen and join the ISIS. He floated the Ansar-ut-Tawhid which carried out recruitment of Indian youth into the ISIS.

Yasin needs to be probed hard for the ISIS link. The decision taken by Sultan Armar to break away was in fact done in consultation with Yasin a few months prior to his arrest. Further confirmation of IM operatives joining the ISIS came a few days back when it was reported that Bada Sajid a key member of the group had died in Syria.