Bengaluru: He had reportedly provided a safe passage to the main accused in the December 2005 Indian Institute of Science (IISc) terror attack — Sabahuddin alias Farhan — to and from Bangladesh for Rs 800. Habib Miyan, the seventh accused in the IISc terror attack, is the alleged face of thousands of unknown men, who are mercenaries and play a crucial role in cross-border terrorism.
Habib – the ‘friendly’ 35-year-old plumber from Nobedpura at Jogindernagar in Agartala, Tripura, who was arrested last week in Agartala by the Gujarat Anti Terror Squad (ATS) and Central Crime Branch (CCB), Bengaluru police with the logistic help of local police – reportedly told the CCB that he had helped Sabahuddin cross over to Bangladesh and return from there without his passport for a fee of Rs 800.
“Habib said that Sabahuddin had approached him as a visitor wanting to go to Bangladesh and return to Tripura after some days. He had agreed to pay him Rs 800 for the services. Habib, who has relatives in Bangladesh, provided him the safe passage through an unmanned area on the Indo-Bangladesh border without any documents,” said an official source. Habib has reportedly told the police that he didn’t know Sabahuddin and was not aware of his activities.
Sabahuddin was arrested in 2008 in Nepal for his alleged involvement in the 2007 Uttar Pradesh CRPF camp carnage in which seven jawans were martyred. He is presently lodged in a Lucknow prison.
In his statements to Bengaluru police, Sabah had mentioned about Habib and how he had helped him in May 2005 to cross over to Bangladesh from Tripura after Sabah was instructed by his Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) handler Abdul Aziz to travel to Bangladesh to finalise the blueprint of the IISc attack. After the attack, in May 2006 Sabah again got in touch with Habib to cross over to Bangladesh and this time he was allegedly helped by his nephew and some other locals to illegally get across the border.
Habib was brought to the city early this week on transit remand. He is currently in police custody. While Sabah is in judicial custody, the second accused Abu Hamza, a Lashkar operative, who had shot at Prof Puri from his AK-47 is at large with the other accused in the case - Muzammil Yusuf , Abdul Azeez, Abu Shadath Abu Bakr and Basheer. Barring Sabah and Habib, all the accused are from Pakistan. The IISc attack was the first fidayeen attack in Bengaluru, which was planned and executed by the LeT.
