BENGALURU: It was around 7.15pm this day 10 years ago that Bengaluru was shaken by the first terror attack. The target was the Indian Institute of Science, the premier science and research institute, where international delegates had gathered. The lone gunman struck terror killing a retired professor of IIT-Delhi and injuring four others, and vanished. He is yet to be nabbed.
Though terror made its presence felt in 2000 when Deendar Anjuman carried out attacks on churches, the IISc strike was a major Fidayeen attack masterminded by Lashkar-e-Taiba(LeT).
Police believe Abu Hamza, the main accused inthe IISc attack, is in Karachi, but know little else. However, 26/11 handler Syed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal reportedly had told the investigation team in 2011 that Hamza was dead and he had attended his funeral.
Hamza could be alive or dead. But a fast-track court in December 2011 convicted and sentenced to life six members of the banned terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba for their involvement in the attack. These six were among several arrested in 2006 from across the country.
Mohammed Razur Rehman, the south India operations chief of LeT, was arrested in Nalgonda, then in Andhra Pradesh. Based on his information, the other five -- Afzar Pasha, Mehboob Ibrahimsab Chopdar, M Noorulla Khan, Mohammed Irfan and Nizamuddin alias Munna--were booked under cases of sedition, terrorism and religious disharmony. The court convicted them on the charge of plotting terror attack and waging war against the country. But it acquitted the seventh accused--Chand Pasha --charged with conspiracy for want of evidence. All the six are lodged in Bangalore Central Prison in Parappana Agrahara.
‘Crime scene was not disturbed’
Recalling the incident, the then Investigation Officer, V S D’Souza, described the crime scene.
“I was in Dharwad for Christmas vacation when the attack took place and I was alerted by then DG & IGP Ajai Kumar Singh. I was directed to investigate the case and I immediately returned to the city early morning and reached the IISc campus. The incident had taken place a day before in the evening and thankfully the crime scene was not disturbed, and the evidence, including the rifle used by the accused, and the backpack containing five live cartridges, were collected from the spot,” D’Souza said.
“During the preliminary investigations, we had zero clues about the accused and no terror outfit had claimed responsibility.
"However, a special team along with the then ACP Pratap Singh came to the conclusion that the LeT was behind the attack. Investigation began based on the sketches of the suspects. I had camped in IISc for a month,” he said.
Recce by Suspect
Since neither the campus nor the city had CCTVs, Investigation Officer V S D’Souza had to go through the list of visitors who had come to the campus to ascertain the identity of the accused. “Even though sketches of the suspects were released to the media, we got no information for a few months. While verifying the visitors’ inputs, I finally found that Mohammed Razur Rehman, a native of AP, had come to the campus six months earlier. He was picked up from his house for questioning and we learnt that he had been in Saudi Arabia for 17 years and came in contact with LeT and was trained. He then revealed the names of other accused — Mehboob Ibrahim, Meeruddin Khan, Nizamuddin and Munna who were in on the plot,” he said.
Why IISc?
During the interrogation, the accused were asked why they did not target Vidhana Soudha. They reportedly said they were directed to catch global attention by targeting international delegates, and hence, chose IISc, where professors were invited from various parts of the country and world.
WHAT HAPPENED
A scientist from New Delhi was killed and four persons were injured when an intruder opened fire at IISc on Dec 28, 2005. Around 7.15 p.m., a man fired randomly with an automatic rifle, when the delegates at an international conference were coming out of the JN Tata Auditorium on the campus. He first lobbed a grenade. When it did not explode, he fired at the delegates.M C Puri, a retd professor of IIT, New Delhi, who was hit by a bullet, died at MS Ramaiah Hospital. IISc scientist Vijay Chandra, two other scientists Pankaj Gupta and Sangeetha and laboratory assistant Vijay Patel were injured.
Under the Police Nose
Sadashivanagar police station is practically next door and had only two policemen when the incident took place. It was so noisy outside that the policemen did not hear the sound of a gun being discharged. The staff of IISc alerted the police after the terrorist managed to flee the campus.