Gujarat (Islamist/Other Conflicts): Timeline (Terrorist Activities) -2015

On December 13, the Special Operation Group (SOG) of Ahmedabad's Crime Branch arrested two brothers, identified as Mofizul Shaikh and Shabudding Shaikh, residents of Murshidabad District of West Bengal, along with Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICNs) worth INR 8,00,000 from Astodia Darwaja area of the city, reports The Times of India. SOG officials said, "Mofizul has confessed that he stored fake notes at his house in Thane near Mumbai. During interrogation the duo claimed that they have been pumping fake notes in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Delhi since the two years. " Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Crime Branch, Deepan Bhadran said: "The fake currency notes of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 denomination are of high quality and have been sent for forensic examination. We have also written to the government mint in Nashik for verification." An SOG official said, "While scrutinizing the bank account of Raees (earlier arrested in Uttar Pradesh), we found Rs 92 lakh was deposited in his account at different stages. The masterminds of the racket paid him half the value of fake currency notes that were disbursed. Going by that, Rs 92 lakh deposited in Raees's account amounts to fake notes worth more than Rs 1.50 crore." "The brothers were in touch with Raees and with three persons Babu Shaikh, Ashanuddin Shaikh and Aaftan shaikh of Ghansipur in West Bengal. The trio is suspected to be in touch with kingpins of fake Indian currency notes in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Our team is camping in West Bengal, hunting for the trio who we suspect are being backed by Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan," said an SOG official. Read less...

National Investigation Agency (NIA) on December 15, arrested the supplier of weapons, identified as Nasir Khan Pathan, used in the murder of Shirish Bangali, former Bharuch District BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) President and Pragnesh Mistry, General Secretary of the Bharuch BJP youth wing. NIA said that Pathan has handed over the weapons to Inayat (arrested) subsequently used for the murder. He will be produced before an NIA court in Ahmedabad where the agency will seek his remand. NIA will also send a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) to United States (US) where the servers of service providers like Google and Yahoo are located. Police said the accused persons communicated through WhatsApp, Facebook and Viber, making it difficult for the agencies to track them. The initial probe by central agencies and NIA has revealed that Dawood Ibrahim's gang member Javed Chikna on the instructions of Chhota Shakeel organised the murders. Investigations also revealed that the D gang has identified many political leaders on their radar. The modules like the one used in Bharuch was also tasked with the killings. Read less...

The three day all India Director General's and Inspector General's conference, held at Kutch (Gujarat) in which Prime Minister, Narendra Modi is present is discussing two key issues: one pertains to Islamic State (IS) threat and the other is relating to Dawood Ibrahim, oneindia.com reports on December 19. The Police officials are discussing various issues pertaining to the Dawood and some of the important points will be used by Modi when he meets with his counterpart in 2016 during the SAARC summit. The meeting, which is also attended by the National Security Advisor (NSA), Ajit Doval and Union Home Minister (UHM), Rajnath Singh, is being held at Kutch in Gujarat. Read less...

Winning over confidence of vulnerable sections of the society and radicalization of youths by terror outfits topped the agenda at the 50th All India Director General of Police (DGP) and Inspector General of Police (IGP) Conference being held at Dhordo in Gujarat's Kutch on December 19, reports The Times of India. Theme-based presentations on various aspects of policing marked the day as Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined the deliberations. He observed and listened to the interactions on security-related matters including terrorism, cyber-security, digital technology, women's safety and disaster management. "Different groups formed within the DGPs and IGPs emphasized that police should work and execute law in a manner that it can wins hearts of weaker and vulnerable sections of the society," said a senior police official who was present during the discussion. Radicalization of youth was another major concern for the top cops of the states of the country. "It was noticed with the recent arrest of IS (Islamic State) sympathizers and alleged operatives of Al-Qaeda that radicalization among educated youth is on the rise in the country. The mala fide use of social media and its adversities were one of the many concerns widely-debated during the discussions," said a Senior Police official. The case histories of terror attacks in past decade in India was discussed when the topic of radicalization came up. The details on investigation, past, present and future of the organizations and terror outfits responsible for attacks in India were also discussed at length. Reforms in the Police department at the Police Station level, raising the competitive spirit of police personnel and officials, reinstating the beat-patrolling system, increasing the use of technology were also among the topics that the DGPs and IGPs deliberated during the day. Read less...

A special court at Ahmedabad on December 28 remanded three men, Mohammad Altaf, Mohsin Khan and Nisar Ahmed, arrested in connection with the murder of two BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) leaders in Bharuch on November 2, in the custody of National Investigation Agency (NIA) till January 1, 2016, reports Outlook. The prosecution said that NIA needed to recover the bike used in the crime and to investigate the role of Mohammad Altaf who was believed to be one of the key conspirators. According to the investigators, Javed Chikna, Dawod Ibrahim’s aide, had given the contract for killing the two leaders. Read less...