India Timeline - Year 2012

Date

Incidents

January 2

Four IM operatives recently arrested by Delhi Police have reportedly confessed that three of them were involved in planting bombs at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore during an IPL match in 2010.

Investigators have said that the IM module led by Yasin Bhatkal may have also been involved in the serial blasts in Mumbai on July 13, 2011.

As reported earlier, in a nationwide investigation, Police Forces, supported by intelligence agencies, had arrested seven IM members. Yasin managed to escape.

The Ahmadabad city crime branch officials believe that Habib Phalai alias Taiyab, arrested in Uttar Pradesh on December 28 in the Ahmadabad serial blasts case, may be connected to the other accused from Azamgarh involved in various serial blasts across India.

January 3

The LeT is raising a group of 21 female terrorists at its training camps in PoK for carrying out sabotage activities in India.

Army said the new group, named as Dukhtareen-e-Toiba, is planned to be made active in the Kashmir Valley by the LeT. The women terrorists are planned to be infiltrated into India through routes in Uri sector or using the aerial route through some other country.

January 4

After a slew of abductions and repeated threats from CPI-Maoist during recent months, Indian Railways employees posted in far-flung areas which fall under Maoist-affected zones have sent an SOS to Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi for better protection during duty hours. 

Central Government is closely monitoring the activities of NSCN-IM which is likely to field some proxy candidates in the coming Manipur Assembly elections as ‘General Secretary’ Thuingaleng Muivah and senior leader V S Atem of the group held a prolonged meeting with Naga Hoho and at least six MLA of the Nagaland People’s Front in Dimapur.

January 5

The Centre has alerted coastal states, including Gujarat and Maharashtra, and asked Navy and Coast Guard to step up patrolling in sea following an 'interception' of a telephone call - made from a ship using satellite phone off Kutch coast to the US - about possible arrival of consignment of arms and ammunition along the Indian coast line.

January 6

The Mumbai Police have received intelligence inputs that some terrorists from the Tibetan region of China may sneak in to India to eliminate the Tibetan spiritual guru, the Dalai Lama.

There is fresh input that the IM in alliance with the ISI, is likely to carry out attacks like 13/7 in Mumbai. BARC, DRDO organizations, defence establishments like Mazgoan dock, naval dockyard, ONGC at Uran plant, economic institutions, aviation sector, oil and power sectors etc are vulnerable, the inputs states.

Militant groups operating in the Northeast have realised that violence will never pay and the only way to solve their problems is peace negotiations.

As opposed to 18 people, a majority of whom belonged to banned outfits were arrested in 2010, 25 full-blown terrorists were arrested in 2011. A special team of Delhi Police scanned the length and breadth of the country to bring the IM to its knees in a blitzkrieg operation.

January 7

Indian Coast Guard is in the process of activating four new stations and two air stations besides inducting over 12 ships and 10 aircraft in its force in the immediate future as part of a major expansion and modernisation drive.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that the Government hopes that acquisition of new safety features would help tackle the menace of FICN.

The Coinage Act, 2011, was recently enacted by Parliament. This is expected to simplify the provisions related to coins and currencies by amalgamating four Acts and one Ordinance relating to coinage.

January 9

Intelligence agencies have reportedly received inputs that the CPI-Maoist has sought the help of Assam based insurgent group, KLO, indicating a retaliation of an “unprecedented scale” to avenge the killing of its politburo member Mallojula Koteswara Rao alias Kishanji in West Bengal on  November 24, 2011.

In a joint operation, a special team comprising personnel of the NIA, the Border Security Force and the West Bengal Police arrested one Morgen Hossain (23) of Malda in West Bengal.

January 10

a red alert was sounded in Kishanganj District after intelligence reports suggested that eight LeT terrorists had sneaked in there from across the porous Indo-Nepal border.

railway stations along the Bihar-Nepal border have been put on alert after intelligence reports that a group of terrorists have sneaked into the State and could pose a threat to railway facilities in the area.

Policemen across Mumbai will now be trained in handling the situation effectively at terror sites in case of an attack till well-trained personnel take charge.

According to a recent intelligence report, the LeT in association with IM is planning to carry out attacks in Mumbai and Delhi in near future.

Probable targets include ports and vital installations on the coastal front.

The NIA has claimed to have busted a major FICNs racket and arrested 14 persons - including leaders of the gang operating out of Malda in West Bengal - during a nationwide swoop. The accused were found to have direct links with their coordinators in Pakistan where these notes were printed.

January 12

The Delhi Police seized FICN worth INR 60 million from Dabri area in south-west Delhi.

Formation of a NCTC, a single window organisation that will gather and disseminate intelligence to central and state security organisations, finally got the Government's nod two years after it made the announcement.  The clearance was given by the CCS. 

Chidambaram while addressing the Directors General and Inspectors General of Police on December 23, 2009, had announced that Government will soon form an NCTC with plans to merge agencies like NIA, NTRO, JIC, NCRB and the NSG.

January 13

A Malaysian businessman is under remand in Chennai after Police found FICN worth thousands of rupees in his possession.

The Mumbai crime branch seized USD 500,000 in 2011.

The Law Ministry is learnt to have cleared a proposal of the Home Ministry seeking an extension of the ban on SIMI for another two years.

 ISI in 2011 pumped FICN worth INR 16 billion into the country in an effort to fund its terror activities and destabilise the Indian monetary system. Sources said an ISI officer, Aslam Chaudhary, was understood to be the main person within the ISI, handling the printing of FICN.

The NIA has been able to link the FICN seized in India in the past to Pakistani security presses by comparing the chemicals of genuine Pakistani notes and FICN seized in India. It is in recognition of extent of the damage to the monetary stability that the Government has decided to amend the anti-terror law, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, to count production, smuggling or circulation of high quality counterfeit Indian currency as a terrorist offence.

Police cracked a major network of militants and FICN suppliers with the arrest of six persons, including a SPO and a woman in Poonch District.

MHA in a meeting has asked the State Government to take measures to free more Districts from militancy in 2012 especially those where militancy related incidents were confined to single digit during 2011. The State has already declared five Districts completely free of militancy.

The Home Ministry noted with satisfaction that militancy related incidents had gone down from 368 in 2010 to 195 in 2011. On infiltration from both LoC and IB, it was viewed that infiltration had been low in 2011 as compared to 2010 though the number of attempts made during 2011 by the militants to intrude into this side hadn’t gone down.

A detailed mechanism was also drafted in the meeting to check terror funding, which was helping the militants to survive in the State. The terror funding was taking place not only within the country but also at the international level, sources said, adding the meeting formulated a strategy to ensure that the funds didn’t reach to the militants.

about 31 out of the total 67 projects sanctioned for the State as a part of the sanctioned PMRP have been completed and work was going on at a faster place in the remaining projects.

A Delhiite had allegedly travelled to Pakistan to meet a ‘notorious counterfeiter’ Iqbal Kana and procure FICNs, Delhi Police claimed after seizing FICNs with a face value of INR 22.4 million and arresting two persons from two separate places in the city.

January 14

One BPO employee was arrested for making hoax bomb call to a woman claiming a bomb had been planted in Kirti Nagar area of New Delhi.

The MBMC asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to institute a CBI probe into the September 19, 2008 Batla House encounter in New Delhi that killed two IM militants and a Delhi Police Inspector Mohan Chandra Sharma.The MBMC, comprising mostly teachers and former teachers of the Aligarh Muslim University, had sent a memorandum to the Prime Minister in this regard.  The memorandum slammed Union Home Minister P Chidambram for describing the encounter as genuine, MBMC chief Razaullah Khan told reporters. "What has pained members of the Muslim community is the fact that even a call for dispensation of justice is dubbed as appeasement by certain sections of the polity," he said.

 SP’s UP chief Akhilesh Yadav during his Kranti Rath through Azamgarh raked up the Batla House encounter and said that the Congress must tell the truth to the people.  Akhilesh said, "Samajwadi Party has always maintained that there should be a judicial probe into the Batla House encounter. The Delhi Police, the Union Home Minister and the Agencies (that alleged people involved in the Batla House encounter were terrorists) are run by the Congress.

January 15

Officials of the Fort branch of the RBI in Mumbai carrying out an audit of old and worn-out currency notes found FICNs totaling over INR 388000 had been deposited with the bank between September 2010 and June 2011.

Intensifying its drive to curb terror funding, the Union Government has asked the Jammu and Kashmir Police as well as the Enforcement Directorate to seek help from the RBI in monitoring transfer of funds meant for separatist groups for alleged anti-national activities, including disturbing peace in the State.

Investigators following the fake currency trail into North India, especially Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, zeroed in on a Nepal-based Indian national, known only by his last name Khanna, who has not been arrested so far.

 IM militants Salman alias Chotu and Shahzad Ahmed alias Pappu have allegedly confessed to the Bangalore Police that they had got explosives for the 2008 Delhi serial blasts from Udupi, a coastal town in Karnataka.

The EC has received specific intelligence reports that money is being pumped into UP from West Asia through hawala (illegal money transfer) channels for the forthcoming state elections.

Two ATM vans, belonging to two private banks, were seized with nearly INR 130 million in cash UP last week.

Specific information that operatives in Nepal backed by ISI are viewing the UP polls as an opportunity to pump in large amounts of FICNs into this country.

A report compiled by the FIU under the Finance Ministry states that there has been a 400 percent increase in FICNs transactions in Indian's financial channels. The states that during 2010-11 financial year (till March 2011).

A suspected sympathizer of the LTTE was arrested by Kochi city Police from Chengalpettu in Chennai in connection with a human trafficking case involving Sri Lankan Tamils.

January 16

three men who planned and executed serial blasts in Mumbai and Delhi High Court blast in 2011, were holed up in an apartment in Byculla, not more than 15 minutes' walk from the Anti-Terrorist Squad's Nagpada headquarters, till just a few weeks ago.

During the annual Home Secretary-level meet between India and Myanmar at Naypyitaw on January 19, a joint strategy to deal with Northeast Indian militant groups, smuggling of drugs, arms and ammunition will be high on the agenda.

The Union Government has accorded formal sanction for the creation of the CRPF Integrated Intelligence Wing.

January 17

The CID has arrested three Indians for allegedly passing strategic information about national security and military installations to Pakistan.

January 19

Based on his information, his nephew Majid (40), and aide Allabax (50) were arrested from Amritsar (Punjab) and Sri Ganganagar (Rajasthan) respectively. Both of them were carrying important information with them and were said to cross the border from Attari to deliver it to their handlers in Pakistan.

An investigator probing the IM Bihar module, part of which was busted by the special team of Delhi Police in 2011, has found that the chief of IM operations in India, Yasin, had been making frequent trips to several areas of Bihar towards the beginning of this decade for recruitment to the terror cause.

Sources have also confirmed that at least two members of the present module were present near L-11, Batla House, the encounter site on September 13, 2008, though till then they had no knowledge of the exact role played by the Azamgarh module.

Investigators had believed that the Bihar module had only become active after the Azamgarh (Uttar Pradesh) module, operating under Atif Ameen, was busted in the Batla House encounter in September 2008.

Counter-terrorism agencies have narrowed down on the terror-financing module that is operating out of New Delhi, and is believed to have aided IM operatives in executing the July 13 triple blasts in Mumbai and the Delhi blast.

Police officials revealed that during their stay at Habib Mansion, right behind the Byculla Police Station, IM operative Yasin Bhatkal and Pakistanis Tabrez and Bakas had reconnoitered several vital installations in the city.

Interrogation of two people arrested from Jammu in Jammu and Kashmir on January 17 after the busting of a FICNs racket in New Delhi on January 12 has revealed that the busted FICNs racket was on for over a year.

January 20

Union Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju said here that the coastal security apparatus for dealing with infiltration attempts by the sea route was already in place and was being strengthened further.

Challenges rising from Pakistan would remain the most serious security test for India over the next decade, says Naresh Chandra, chairman of the NSAB, who is also heading a taskforce on reviewing the country's security architecture.

January 21

A Delhi court will hear arguments taking cognizance of the charge sheet filed by NIA against Pakistani-American LeT operative David Coleman Headley and eight others including JuD chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed and LeT militant Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi. Headley and others are charged with planning and executing terror strikes in India, including the 26/11 Mumbai attack.

January 22

CorCom of seven militant outfits of Manipur have joined hands with five other Militant groups of the Northeastern  and called for a mass boycott of Republic Day celebrations on January 26 in the entire northeast. Five other outfits include the ULFA-ATF, HNLC, KLO, NLFT and ATTF.

During the Home Secretary level meeting between the two countries on January 19, Myanmar has assured India that steps would be taken against the Northeastern militants using its territory.

Myanmar has sought India’s help for implementation of several road projects, which would facilitate free movement of the troops to the areas where the militants are taking shelter. Myanmar has also sought India’s help in completing the trilateral highway linking India, Myanmar and Thailand.

Bhutan ‘Prime Minister’ Jigme Y Thinley said that there is no camp of any militant formation of the northeast in his country. He further asserted that Security Forces are on alert to thwart any such potential attempts by the militants.

Union Minister for Rural Development, Jairam Ramesh, whilst attending the M. Venkatarangaiya Foundation, has noted with concern the disturbing trend of Naxalites [Left Wing Extremist (LWE)] recruiting young boys and girls.  

Maharashtra ATS claimed to have made a major breakthrough in the triple Mumbai blasts July 13, 2011 that claimed 27 lives, with the arrest of two of the accused hailing from Bihar.

The life sentences awarded to six HuJI cadres, including three Pakistani, by a trial court for plotting to abduct cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly in 2002, were reduced to eight years each by the Delhi High Court.

A key accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, Major (retd) Ramesh Upadhaya (60), will contest the Uttar Pradesh assemble polls from Bairia constituency, an official said.

HuT, the aggressive political group behind the recent failed Bangladesh coup, has been active in India for at least two years.

A source in the security establishment said HuT may have started operations in India around 2010, but seems to have lost the momentum.

Four persons were arrested and FICNs of various denominations worth 513000 was seized at Nandura in Buldhana District.

Mohammed Ismail, arrested in connection with the FICN, was brought to the court in Pondicherry.

Yasin Bhatkal, the mastermind of the 13/7 Mumbai blasts, might have succeeded in evading the Police, but he remains in India, officials of the Maharashtra.

The Delhi Police has been advised to keep an eye on the wholesale markets to break an international counterfeiter's network that spans "from Karachi to Chandni Chowk".

Maharashtra ATS chief Rakesh Maria said that the IM first recruited youths from Cheetah Camp in Trombay (Maharashtra), then Kondwa in Pune (Maharashtra), then Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh and now Darbhanga in Bihar.

The investigations into the bogus SIM cards racket led the Police to the accused in the July 13, 2011 Mumbai triple blast case (also known as 13/7).

The ATS recovered 400 documents provided by Tikole through which prepaid SIM cards were bought by the IM module members.

Eight persons have been arrested by the ATS in the 13/7 case so far.

Union Home Secretary R.K. Singh said that Bihar man held by the Maharashtra Police on the charge of playing a key role in organising the 13/7 attack was a Delhi Police and Intelligence Bureau informant.

As reported earlier, the Maharashtra ATS has said it has held three men involved in planning and executing the 13/7 attack - one of them a witness, who had cooperated with the Delhi Police and the IB in the search for two Pakistani nationals who allegedly planted the explosive devices.

The FICN seized during a raid on a gambling den led to unearthing of a FICN racket in the Krishna District.

During his three-day visit to CPI-Maoist affected Districts of West Bengal, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said that it is important to combat Maoists in a different way than what has been done so far.

The Maharashtra ATS made its ninth arrest in a fraudulent SIM card case.

New Delhi airport immigration officials have arrested a terror suspect linked to the July 25, 2008 Bangalore (Karnataka) blasts as he was trying to fly out of the country.

A Police source said Sameer is the 24th accused arrested in the Bangalore serial blasts.

Prior to executing the 13/7 blasts in Mumbai, IM operatives Yasin Bhatkal and Riyaz Bhatkal bargained extensively on the amount to be spent to execute the terror attack. Though Yasin demanded INR 1.7 million to bomb three places in Mumbai, he was paid only INR 1.2 million by IM leaders, investigations have revealed.

Maharashtra ATS revealed that the hawala money to fund the attacks was routed through UAE.

The CPI-Maoist cadres from Tamil Nadu have reportedly infiltrated Karnataka and are strengthening the hands of their comrades in Agumbe region of Udupi District, according to a recent intelligence report.

Police are conducting a probe after FICNs were found in some of the currencies sent to the Reserve Bank of India, Chennai, by some banks Tirunelveli

The Highways Ministry has made elaborate plans to build roads in neglected areas and untouched zones in the next five years.

Under the TSP, the Ministry proposes to take up development of State roads in Districts identified in Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand. The Ministry proposes to take up development of about 1,000km roads to two lane standards in these Districts with an investment of INR 50 billion during the 12th plan period.

The Ministry is also pushing the plan to develop better road network along borders, which would be developed by the BRO with a gross budgetary support of INR 30 billion during the five-year period. Moreover, it has submitted proposals to build 103 strategically important stretches in Jammu and Kashmir; and for this the Ministry needs INR 7 billion budgetary allocation from the Centre.

Briefing to over 70,000 CRPF troops engaged in anti-Naxal [Left Wing Extremism (LWE)] operations, Director General K Vijay Kumar asked them to turn junglee (inhabitants of forests) and hit the CPI-Maoist "hard" before eliminating them.

Two persons were arrested along with nine FICNs of INR 500 denomination in Indore in the night of January 25.

The special task force of the GRP in Howrah in West Bengal arrested a three-member gang involved in the transportation of FICNs to Pune in Maharashtra.

Habib alias Habibfalahi Shaikh (25), an accused in the 2008 Ahmedabad bomb blast and Surat bomb planting cases, was arrested by the Ahmadabad city Police.

The NIA informed that Muhammed Shameer, a native of Kannur in Kerala, who was arrested in Delhi, in connection with the 2008 Bangalore Blast case, on January 25 was a vital link for the inflow of money for terrorist purposes.

The NIA has undertaken two major FICNs cases in the State, after some Pakistan links were established in both the cases.