Two of the three judges of the Allahabad high court who gave the September 2010 verdict on the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title suit are on the hitlist of radical and terrorist Muslim outfits, said the Madhya Pradesh anti-terror squad chief in Bhopal on Thursday.

Ten alleged Indian Mujahideen and Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) men were arrested by the ATS last week. Photographs and literature seized from them pointed to a plot to eliminate, apart from the judges, the publisher of a Delhi-based comic magazine for printing drawings of Prophet Mohammed. The arrests were made in Ratlam, Jabalpur and Bhopal.

Madhya Pradesh DGP SK Rout told TOI among the arrested were Sheikh Mujib of Gujarat, Mehboob of Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh and Abu Faizal of Mumbai. All three are accused in 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts. Eight were picked up from a house in Raza Chowk area of Jabalpur.

“These men were holding meetings with the aim of avenging the verdict given by the judges on the Ayodhya,” said inspector general (ATS) Vipin Maheshwari. Interrogations revealed Mumbai-based Unani doctor Abu Faizal had sent Sheikh Mujib and accomplice Aslam to physically enter Lucknow court for a dry run of the building and monitor movements of a judge and lawyers of Hindu organizations.

The police said Mujib and Aslam went to Lucknow with Rs 1 lakh and rented a room. Bherulal Tank, a VHP leader from Ujjain, was also in their list of photographed targets. Tank is believed to be close to Malegaon blasts accused Pragya Singh Thakur and the deceased alleged mastermind of the Ajmer blasts, Sunil Joshi.