MUMBAI: The Mumbai police yesterday announced they had arrested 20 activists of the shadowy Indian Mujahedeen (IM) terror group, including four software professionals the authorities say had sent e-mails to media outlets moments before the serial bombings in New Delhi and Ahmedabad.
The arrests had taken place over a 10-day period, with the software professionals being picked up Sunday, Police Commissioner Hasan Gafoor said.
Preliminary interrogation of the accused had revealed that they planned to carry out terror blasts in Mumbai during the ongoing Navratri festival, Gafoor told a press conference here that was televised live by many TV news channels.
Gafoor said 10 IM activists who had planted the bombs in Ahmedabad and Surat were among those who had been arrested. The IT professionals who have been arrested include Mohammed Mansoor Asghar Peerbhoy, 31, working as a principal software engineer in an MNC on a salary of Rs.1.9 million per annum, who is considered the mastermind; Mobin Kadir Shaikh, 24, working as a senior technical adviser in an IT firm; and Asif Bashiruddin Shaikh, 22, a mechanical engineer.
