Vicky Nanjappa reports: Yasin Bhatkal was like a brother to IM cadres, but what stood out was the ease with which he coordinated between operatives both in India and the Gulf.

Bhatkal had a unique style of functioning and the reason why he never was on the radar during the planning of terror attacks was because he never used either a mobile phone or email to communicate. The Indian agencies shadowed Yasin with technological intelligence, which made him restrict the use of technology. The Indian agencies had to adopt to human intelligence which again gave him a lot of time to cover his trail.

Earlier, the Indian Mujahideen sent out emails before and after every blasts, but it ensured arrests. When Yasin took over as the IM boss, he ensured that all operations were done quietly.

Yasin's message to his cadres were to carry out as many blasts as possible and not worry about the casualties. The intention was to be in circulation and ensure that the name of the Indian Mujahideen never died down.

In fact, he was the one who ensured that the IM use illegal immigrants from Bangladesh so that there is no trail.