State ATS to seek custody of terrorist in two cases

Mumbai : The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) will seek custody of Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative Abdul Subhan Qureshi alias Touqeer  in two cases registered with it. The Delhi police’s special cell arrested Qureshi, a seasoned Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) associate, ahead of the Republic Day.

Qureshi is notorious for having been involved in the July 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts — where 60 people were killed in 21 separate explosions — after coming in contact with the Bhatkal brothers.

State ATS officials said that they are keeping a watch on the developments following his arrest and are in contact with the Delhi police.

“We want to question him in regard to the two cases with us and two other cases registered with the Pydhonie and Kurla police stations (in 1998 and 2001 respectively) in Mumbai. We suspect that he also frequented the city while he was on the run. This will also be looked into,” said a senior ATS officer requesting anonymity.

ATS officials said that his role was to find new recruits and to brainwash them into joining the IM. Qureshi, being an old SIMI operative, is one of the bigger catches in the recent past, officials said.

The cases against Qureshi are those of terror meetings held in Ujjain and Pune. The SIMI operatives had met at Ujjain in 2006, a development that was mentioned in the statement of another terror operative, Ehthesham Siddique.

“The meeting took place with Safdar Nagori. The meeting was attended by Siddique, Qureshi, Nagori and seven others. The second case dates back to 2008 when a meeting took place in Pune from where incriminating literature was seized,” added the ATS officer.

Qureshi also has two other cases with the Karnataka police, apart from two that were registered by the Gujarat police.