Rasool Khan Parti, 34, and Mohammad Sufiya Ahmed Patangiya, 36, identified as masterminds behind the Bengaluru and Ahmedabad blasts by the Intelligence Bureau and investigating agencies, are operatives of the Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jihadi-al-Islami.
Parti was originally from Hyderabad, while Patangiya was from Ahmedabad. They now live at Gulistan near Jauhar Chowrangi in Karachi, Pakistan, say IB sources. This is not the first time that their names have cropped up for terror activities.
The IB says that Parti's first tryst with crime was through the underworld. He came in contact with a don named Abdul Latif Abdul Wahab Sheikh and later got close to 1993 Mumbai serial blasts accused and gangster Dawood Ibrahim and moved to Karachi. In Karachi he slowly moved towards terror operations and joined the HuJI as a commander following the Gujarat communal riots. The IB says he along with Dawood planned several terror attacks after the Gujarat violence.
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The IB says Pathangiya was a cleric based in Ahmedabad. He was always sympathetic to extremist elements but became active after the Gujarat riots. He moved to Karachi where he got in touch with Dawood and Parti, who were then planning operations in Gujarat. The IB says the two are being sheltered by the Inter Services Intelligence and Dawood, who according to an IB dossier lives around the same area.
Intelligence agencies came to know of Patangiya (also known as Mufti Ahmediyan) and Parti in the murder of former Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya in 2003. The Central Bureau of Investigation, which is probing that case, has named the two as the main conspirators in the case. The charge-sheet states Patangiya and Parti had also planned the murder of several other Bharatiya Janata Party leaders in Gujarat.
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Reports suggest that after Pandya's murder the duo fled to Hyderabad, where they were given shelter by a teacher. They stayed in Hyderabad for a couple of days before moving to Karimnagar also Andhra Pradesh.
The IB says prior to the Pandya murder, the Ahmedabad police had named them in the AMTS tiffin bomb blast case in Gujarat on May 29, 2002, in which 15 persons were injured. The police had accused them of getting arms into Gujarat and triggering off the explosions.
The duo have an impressive terror record and are now in charge of HuJI's operations in India. Their major focus has always been Gujarat. Both Pathangiya and Parti are directly involved in recruitment and training activities, the IB says.
