Father of alleged IM operative sues senior journalists

Bangalore - 23 Dec 2011: The father of alleged Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative Yasin Bhatkal has sued The Hindu newspaper's Editor-in-chief N Ram and reporter Praveen Swami for defamation to the tune of Rs 5 crore.

Muhammed Zarar Sidibapa, resident of Bhatkal, Karnataka, has sent a legal notice to The Hindu demanding an unconditional apology for a front-page story published on 1 December. According to the article, titled "Breakthrough in 2010 attacks raises fears of renewed jihadist campaign", Sidibapa is an IM commander who had masterminded a series of bomb blasts in several cities since 2005 and was absconding. However, Sidibapa claims that he has been managing his business in Dubai since the last three decades.

In the notice sent to The Hindu, a copy of which is with Tehelka, Sidibapa has asked for damages of Rs 5 crore for the "mental agony caused to him by the newspaper's deliberate and defamatory reporting", which declared him an absconding terrorist. Sidibapa is also planning to file a separate case for criminal defamation.

According to the Hindu report, Sidibapa, the father of Muhammed Ahmed Sidibapa, who police and intelligence agencies claim is a terror operative using the name Yasin Bhatkal, was "responsible for a string of bombings in several cities that began in 2005".

Swami also reported that Pakistani national Muhammad Adil, an alleged Jaish-e-Muhammad operative arrested by the Delhi Police Special Cell, was dispatched to India by "Indian Mujahideen commanders in Karachi to aid Sidibappa's cell". This part of the report has particularly enraged Bhatkal's father, who says that Sidibapa is his family name. He has alleged that the report was a deliberate attempt to malign his family's reputation.

When contacted by Tehelka, Sidibapa said, "I have been doing business in Dubai for the past 30 years. The article maliciously states that I was the overall-in-charge of the network, which later became the Indian Mujahideen. I would like to clarify that since there are numerous reports being churned out by the media, neither my sons nor I are involved in any terror network".

According to the police and intelligence agencies, Muhammed Ahmed Sidibapa joined the IM and assumed the name of Yasin Bhatkal, and has been the key conspirator in several major blasts in India. "There is no one in our family by the name of Yasin," says Sidibapa, who said that his son had gone missing from Dubai seven years ago. "We have been searching for him for the past seven years. The Dubai police say that he has left the country."

When contacted, Ram said, "I have no information on it." While Swami, who is also the Hindu group's Deputy Editor and a security expert said, "I have no idea since I haven't received the notice."

S Thyagarajan, Associate Editor, The Hindu, Chennai, however, acknowledged receipt of the notice adding that the group's lawyers were preparing for a reply.

Akmal Rizvi of Prime Law Associates, advocate of Sidibapa, had earlier told Tehelka that the notice was dispatched to the Hindu office.

On page 14 of the same issue, the report "Delhi arrests cast light on jihadists' 'Karachi Project' says that Sidibapa, who had a bomb-making factory on the fringes of the Bhadra forests near Chickmagalur, Karnataka, escaped to Bangladesh, where he stayed in a Lashkar-e-Toiba safe house. The report further said that Sidibapa was back in India and was the commander of the jihadist cell responsible for most of the major terror attacks since 26/11.

The article further stated that Sidibapa, after studying at the well-respected Anjuman Hami-e-Muslimeen School (Bhatkal) left for Pune as a teenager. He had contacts with Unani medicine practitioner-turned-Islamist proselytiser Iqbal Ismail Shahbandri and his brother Riyaz Ismail Shahbandri, the paper reported. The story further said that Riyaz is now the IM's top military commander in Karachi.

In his legal notice, however, Sidibapa claims that he studied up to standard three and never went to Pune as a teenager. He also denies of having any links with the Shahbandri brothers.

source: Tehelka.com

imran@tehelka.com