Acid bottles recovered from Goa house rented by Bhatkal

Panaji, Sept 18: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has recovered some bottles of acid from the house which the alleged co-founder of terror outfit Indian Mujahiddin, Yasin Bhatkal, had rented in Goa in November 2011.

NIA sleuths brought Bhatkal -- arrested from Nepal-India border recently -- to Goa on Saturday night by a chartered flight. They flew back to Delhi after visiting Anjuna village, where he had lived, and Chimbel, a slum area near Panaji, police sources said.

One person was picked up by NIA for interrogation from Indiranagar Chimbel, a cluster of 4,000-odd slums. Bhatkal had lived in a rented house in Anjuna from November 2011 to February 2012 with two others. Dnyaneshwar Chari, the landlord, told PTI that NIA sleuths recovered some acid bottles' and some kitchen utensils. A second-hand motorcycle which Bhatkal used and later abandoned too was found.

"The acid bottle was there right from the time when Bhatkal and his associates left the house without giving us any notice. We had kept it aside," Chari said. The form which landlords are supposed to fill up and submit at the police station when renting the house did not mention Bhatkal, but some other person who said he was from Pune.

"Bhatkal joined them later," Chari said, claiming that he did not remember the name of the person who rented the house. Bhatkal and others left the house in February 2012 without informing Chari, he claimed.

PTI