Batla House encounter and the downfall of Indian Mujahideen

The Batla House encounter was the beginning of the downfall of Indian Mujahideen. During this decade, all the questions of the Batla House encounter and IM have been answered in different forums and courts of law. Many IM terrorists have been arrested and put to court trials in bomb blast cases.

The trials of several cases are still ongoing and progressing gradually. Two bomb blast cases have concluded to date, i.e., the Hyderabad serial blast case of 25 August 2007 and the Jaipur serial blast case of 13 May 2008. Both resulted in the conviction of the accused.

While most of the IM members have been arrested, some evaded arrest and took shelter at various places including Pakistan, Dubai and Nepal. The Special Cell was on the lookout for Shahzad Ahmed alias Pappu, and Ariz Khan alias Junaid, who had escaped from Flat no. 108, L-18, Batla House, on 19 September 2008.

Shahzad had taken shelter in his village, Mohalla Baz Bahadur (Kote Kila Road, Azamgarh) after his escape. He was arrested by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), UP Police, on 1 February 2010 from Khalispur village in Azamgarh. The Delhi Police Crime Branch, which was investigating the Batla House encounter case, took him on remand. During interrogation, he admitted that he was present at Flat no. 108, L-18, Batla House during the raid and encounter. He confirmed that he managed to escape along with Junaid while firing at the police team. This revelation aligned with the testimonies of the Special Cell team that two people had escaped from Batla House.

After completion of its investigation, the Delhi Police Crime Branch sent the case for trial in the court. The trial court convicted Shahzad on 25 July 2013, and on 30 July, sentenced him to life imprisonment for his involvement in the Batla House encounter. Shahzad has filed an appeal in the Delhi High Court.

Junaid had escaped to Nepal and occasionally visited India. The Delhi Police Special Cell had been trying to keep track of him. A team of the Special Cell working under DCP Pramod Kushwaha got the lead and arrested him on 13 February 2018 near Sharda Inter College, Banbasa, Indo-Nepal border. He was later taken on police remand by the Crime Branch in connection with the Batla House encounter. The Crime Branch has completed the investigation and has sent the case for trial and the decision is awaited.

The Batla House encounter became a historic event in the fight against terrorism. It caused a critical blow to IM, as it neutralized its key members and broke the backbone of its network in India. We lost one of the most intelligent and brave officers, whose findings led us to the core IM members. The work done by all the Special Cell personnel helped crack the bomb blast cases and neutralize the threat from this terror group that had caused many blasts across the country between 2004 and 2008, causing injuries to 765 people and killing 239 innocent men, women and children.

This case stirred a political storm, instigated a witch-hunt against Special Cell officers, divided public opinion and became a raging controversial topic in the media that continues till date. The aftermath of this incident brought to the fore many systemic issues that officers face while discharging their duties towards the country. There is a dire need for India to have a political consensus on how to deal with terrorism and to build a national policy on it.

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KARNAL SINGH, a 1984-batch IPS officer and an engineer from the Delhi College of Engineering (DCE) and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, has over 34 years of experience in the investigation of corruption, terrorism, money laundering and criminal cases. In the Delhi Police Special Cell, he spearheaded the investigation of the 2008 Delhi blast cases, which led to the Batla House encounter. In this book, he shares the minute-by-minute account of the chain of events leading up to the encounter that shook the nation and marked the beginning of the end of the obscure and dreaded Indian Mujahideen.

Get your copy of Batla House here.

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