Cops reveal HuJI plan to kidnap Sachin, Sourav

New Delhi: Delhi Police on Tuesday told a court that three Pakistan-based militants have confessed that they conspired to kidnap cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly for securing the release of two jailed HuJI terrorists.
Referring to confessional statements of Tariq Mohammed and Ashfaq Ahmed, Public prosecutor Anita Hooda said the accused had come here to ensure release of Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami (HuJI) members Nasarullah Langrial and Abdul Rahim who were then lodged in Indian jails.
"Ashfaq, a native of Punjab province in Pakistan, had received arms training in Afghanistan along with Taliban militants for over ten days before sneaking into India through Dhaka in Bangladesh," the prosecutor, advancing the final arguments in the case, said.
Simultanesously, Tariq, hailing from Multan in Pakistan, had also got training in Afghanistan and came to India through Bangladesh, she said.
Their confessional statements were recorded on February 13, 2002 by a senior police officer after they were arrested at Nizamuddin railway station on January 31 same year, minutes before boarding an Agra-bound train.
Police had recovered one pistol and seven cartidges from their possession. Earlier, the prosecutor had referred to the confessional statement of Arshad Khan, also a Pakistan national.
The plot to abduct the cricketers did not succeed as the terrorists could not get the logistic support to execute their design in 2002, she said.
The advancing of the arguments remained inconclusive and would continue on March 25.
Besides three Pakistan-based terrorists, three Indians -- Mufti Israr, Ghulam Qadir Bhatt and Ghulam Mohd Darwere -- were also allegedly part of the conspiracy. All the militants, including key accused Jalaluddin, who was declared a proclaimed offender during the trial, had also planned to attack the Bhaba Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in Mumbai and assassinate former President A P J Abdul Kalam during his Patna visit in 2002, she said.
They have been booked under various provisions of POTA, IPC and the Explosives Act which provide for maximum sentence of death penalty.
They are charged with hatching conspiracy to wage war against the state and keeping explosives.