http://www.arabnews.com/node/278297

Bombay Urdu Journalist Arrested in Blasts Case

Author: Shahid Raza Burney, Arab News

Tuesday 1 August 2006

BOMBAY, 1 August 2006 — Bombay police yesterday arrested an Urdu journalist for his alleged links with a banned group suspected to be behind the July 11 train bombings. The Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of the Bombay police, which is probing the serial blasts, arrested Danish Riyaz Shaukat Ali Khan, 30, under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

News agencies said Danish worked as a reporter with “Urdu Times”, a daily published from Bombay. According to ATS chief K.P. Raghuvanshi, Danish has links with the outlawed Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), which is believed to have provided help to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) to carry out the carnage on Bombay local trains.

The ATS chief said Danish may not be directly involved in the blasts, but is suspected of assisting subversive elements in carrying out the terror attacks. His exact role, if any, in the blasts would be known only after his interrogation, Raghuvanshi said. “The reporter was found to have a large quantity of objectionable literature, including books, pictures and compact discs,” Raghuvanshi said. “Obviously that kind of literature is not only for knowledge purposes,” he said, suggesting that the man may have planned to distribute the material.

Earlier this week, the ATS had arrested a man called Ehtesham Siddique for possessing similar literature. Danish was produced before a local court which remanded him to police custody till Aug. 14.

So far 10 people have been arrested in connection with the bombings which killed more than 300 people. All the arrested are Indian Muslims. They include a software professional, a doctor and an alleged LeT commander. But the ATS, which is under great political and administrative pressure, is yet to crack the case and present the evidence that unravels the conspiracy.

In an unrelated development, lawyers in the city have come down heavily on Raj Thackeray, the estranged nephew of the extremist Shiv Sena party chief Bal Thackeray, and president of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). The Indian Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL) and Committee for the Protection of Democratic Rights (CPDR) have requested the state advocate general to file a petition in the Bombay High Court against Raj seeking contempt of court proceedings for threatening lawyers against taking up the case of the Bombay blast accused.

Immediately after the Maharashtra Nav Nirman Sena president allegedly made the threat, a prominent lawyer, Nitin Pradhan, declined to fight the case of a bomb blast accused. The petitioners contended that the country’s constitution provided fundamental rights for every citizen to be defended in the court of law. “Even at that the time of the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, nobody questioned the right of Satwant Singh, who had shot Mrs. Gandhi, to be defended in court,” said an IAPL member.