Author: Danish Khan and Zahid Qureshi
Publication: Mumbai Mirror
Date: September 20, 2008
URL: http://www.mumbaimirror.com/net/mmpaper.aspx?page=article§id=15&contentid=2008092020080920021456954cff541df
After his arrest in 2006, Ehtesham Siddiqui
recorded details of his interrogation by ATS in a handbook that was smuggled
out for benefit of other SIMI men
Police have learnt that 7/11 serial blasts
accused Ehtesham Siddiqui, who has been lodged in Arthur Road jail since 2006,
has used the time to compile a handbook on the interrogation techniques of
the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).
Gujarat police came to know about the handbook
from SIMI activists arrested in connection with the July 26 serial blasts
in Ahmedabad.
They fished out a copy of the handbook from
a well near Sidi Saiyyed mosque in the Lal Darwaza area of Ahmedabad on September
2.
It was packed in a plastic bag that also contained
a book written by Mufti Abu Bashar, accused in the Ahmedabad blasts, and some
literature in Urdu.
Siddiqui's book is in Gujarati. Titled 'How
to prevent yourself from police interrogation', it contains detailed information
on how to dodge investigators during questioning and a report on the ATS investigation
into the 7/11 serial blasts in local trains in Mumbai.
Apparently, Siddiqui, who was known to be
a good recorder of events and 'disseminator' of information, recalled even
minute details of his interrogation by the ATS.
It appears the book was smuggled out of Arthur
Road jail and passed on to underground SIMI activists across the country.
Former ATS chief, Additional Director General
of Police K P Raghuvanshi, who had also interrogated Siddiqui, says, "I
do not know if he took notes during his stay in the jail.
But we were aware that he had written a letter
from jail to all-India SIMI general secretary Safdar Nagori saying he had
not divulged any information while being interrogated by the ATS."
The letter was subsequently seized by the
Madhya Pradesh police from one of Nagori's hideout in March this year.
Gujarat police suspect Siddiqui might have passed on the handbook to Nagori,
who, in turn, passed it on to other SIMI activists.
Abhay Chudasama, DCP (crime branch, Ahmedabad)
says, "We are investigating who translated Siddiqui's book into Gujarati."
Police are not clear as to who among the SIMI
activists arrested in Ahmedabad was in possession of the book.
- Ehtesham Siddiqui is a former general-secretary
of the Maharashtra unit of SIMI. After the serial blasts in local trains in
Mumbai on July 11, 2006, he was arrested from his house at Mira Road and booked
under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
