Date:19/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/19/stories/2008091950150100.htm

New Delhi

Delhi police probe Ahmedabad connection

Devesh K. Pandey

Suspected mastermind behind Gujarat blasts brought to Delhi for interrogation

AN EXPLOSIVE TRAIL: Abul Bashar Qasmi

NEW DELHI: Abul Bashar Qasmi, the alleged mastermind behind the recent Ahmedabad serial blasts and a key member of terror outfit Indian Mujahideen, was brought here on Wednesday evening for verification of his purported links in the Capital.

Qasmi, who is under the custody of the Ahmedabad police, was taken to the places where he had stayed with his younger brother Abu Zar, who worked as a parking lot attendant in the Walled City area of Delhi, and his two other contacts, Danish and Aftab, who lived in South Delhi’s Zakir Nagar area.

During his interrogation Qasmi had allegedly disclosed that he had stayed in Delhi from July 24 to 26.

The Delhi police also questioned Qasmi for a couple of hours in connection with this past Saturday’s five serial blasts here in the Capital as they suspect involvement of the Indian Mujahideen core group in the attacks. Qasmi was a part of the Indian Mujahideen.

“We are working on some of the facts revealed by him during interrogation. It is a time-taking procedure as a lot of information has to be verified,” said a senior police officer, adding that the Ahmedabad police were on the look-out for Bashar’s brother and his two contacts.

The Delhi police are zeroing in on Tauqeer, the alleged Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) member who is wanted in the Ahmedabad blasts case. Tauqeer was booked by the police here way back in 2001 for allegedly publishing anti-national and inflammatory pamphlets and posters.

The police had in September that year conducted raids at the SIMI headquarters in Zakir Nagar and claimed to have seized a large number of posters and magazines soon after the Government banned SIMI for anti-national activities.

Safdar Nagori, the alleged SIMI leader who was arrested by the Madhya Pradesh police earlier this year, had then managed to escape before the police raided the outfit’s headquarters. Tauqeer was said to be close to Nagori and had allegedly joined him after a rift between the hardliners and moderates within the outfit.

According to the police, Tauqeer was also one of the office-bearers of the outfit when it was banned.