Author: Sagnik Chowdhury & Stavan Desai
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: July 25, 2006
The crime branch of the Mumbai Police on Monday
handed over Dr Tanvir Ahmed Mohammed Ibrabim Ansari, one of the five persons
detained on Friday for questioning in connection with the July 11 serial blasts,
to the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS). Although his role in the blasts has not
been established yet, crime branch officials believe him to be part of a sophisticated
LeT module in the city.
Ansari (33), a practitioner of Unani medicine
and resident of Byculla, was arrested by the ATS and produced before a magistrate
who remanded him in police custody till August 4.
The fourth person to be arrested in the 7/11
serial blasts case, Ansari was part of an "extremely sophisticated and
dangerous" LeT module which possibly had a role in the October 29, 2005
Sarojini Nagar market blasts in Delhi and the June 3, 2001 blast at a Roman
Catholic church in Gopalganj in Bihar, sources in the crime branch told The
Indian Express.
"However, his role in the recent blasts
in the city is being investigated," said a senior crime branch official.
According to ATS officials, Ansari is part of a five-member module in the
city trained in Pakistan. In late 2004 he had gone to Pakistan by road from
Tehran which he visited on a pilgrimage visa, investigations so far reveal.
The practice of visiting Pakistan through Iran is similar to the one employed
by members of the Lashkar's Aurangabad module and the one busted in Delhi
on May 9.
Grant Road-based Lashkar operative Rahil Abdul
Rehman Shiekh (24), who is evading arrest, is the one who used to procure
these visas for the Lashkar and he is suspected to have helped Ansari visit
Pakistan via Iran.
In Pakistan, Ansari spent 40 days at terrorist
camps in Muzzafarabad and Bahawalpur. He, like the other four, were trained
in the use of AK-47 assault rifles, rocket launchers and grenade throwing.
On his return from Pakistan in early 2005,
Ansari resumed practising Unani medicine at Saifee Ambulance and Pathological
Lab at Bori Muhallah, Ibrahim Rehmatullah Road, Bhendi Bazaar Junction and
at Saabu Siddiqui Hospital at Bombay Central.
On Friday, Unit-II of the Crime Branch had
busted the module, and detained all five members. It's likely that the others
will be handed over to the ATS in following days.
"All five are extremely well educated
and are not in the least bit in awe of senior police officers. They are well
read, and extremely computer savvy. They are the sort who would feel at case
in a five star hotel in the city. They are religious fanatics and were extremely
uncooperative during interrogation," said an investigating officer.
"Ansari himself holds a degree from Nagpur
University for a five-year course in Unani medicine. He has been arrested
in Mumbai in the past for two offences involving SIMI members," the officer
added.
