Retired PSI Saraf Arvind Speaks: “We stopped him once — now we’ve ended him“
Nineteen years after he sent armed fidayeen to strike Nagpur, Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Abu Saifullah, the mastermind of the failed 2006 attack on the RSS headquarters, has been killed in Pakistan.
For retired PSI Saraf Arvind, the bullet he took that night was not in vain. The man behind the mission is gone — and justice has come full circle.
“He trained them, armed them, even taught them to use red-beacon VIP cars to sneak through. But we stopped them before they reached the RSS gates,” Saraf told The Live Nagpur.
On the night of June 1, 2006, Saraf’s 12-member unit was patrolling Cotton Market when a suspicious Ambassador car was spotted. One terrorist exited, pretending to ask for directions. Seconds later, a Pakistani grenade was hurled — but it didn’t explode.
“It bounced off our bonnet. By sheer grace, we were spared.”
Gunfire erupted. Saraf was shot in the abdomen at point-blank range, but kept firing. All three terrorists were neutralized before breaching the compound.
The squad recovered AK-47s, grenades, RDX, and maps. The assailants had come from Kashmir via Patna, under Saifullah’s direction.
Further investigations linked Saifullah to SIMI operatives, who had planted a pipe bomb at Badkas Chowk. “He was the thread linking SIMI, Lashkar, and Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami.”
The terrorists’ bodies were buried in Otkhana cemetery. Islamic mourning rites may draw sympathizers, and police are watching the graves 24/7.
“We buried his men,” Saraf said, “Now we’ll bury every last trace of his network.”
👉 Click here to read the latest Gujarat news on TheLiveAhmedabad.com