Man who stabbed guards in Mumbai's Mira Road was radicalised ‘lone wolf’: ATS

Maharashtra ATS investigating the case has found through Ansari’s internet search history that he had been watching videos of violence against Muslims.

After Monday’s stabbing at Mira Road, where a security guard and a project supervisor were viciously attacked in the wee hours at a construction site, details are emerging on the alleged attacker. Investigators say Zaib Zubair Ansari, 31, arrested by the Mira Bhayander-Vasai Virar police soon after the incident, appears to have been a radicalised loner.

Neighbours told ATS officers that the accused was a barely, if ever, seen outside his apartment.

The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) now investigating the case has found through Ansari’s internet search history that he had been watching videos of violence against Muslims. They also found a note referring to “lone wolf” attacks and the Islamic State at the apartment Ansari rented at Naya Nagar in Mira Road. Ansari’s victims have told the police that he began stabbing them after identifying them as Hindus.

A search of Ansari’s apartment also revealed a chit pasted to the inside of the main door. It instructed visitors to recite three Quranic verses and say “Bismillah” and “Salam”. ATS officers found another chit inside the apartment, with the words “Jihad”, “ISIS” and “Khilafat” scribbled on it.

ATS officers said Ansari had been conducting online chemistry classes for the last five months. His landlord said he had not paid his rent for the last three months.

On Monday morning, Ansari allegedly stabbed security guard, Subroto Sen, 31, and his supervisor, Rajkeshar Mishra, viciously, with a knife. Sen told police he was a dance instructor at Shriram International School, Kashimira, and had taken up a job at the under-construction site only a month ago.

Sen said an unknown man, later identified as Ansari, had inquired about a mosque in the vicinity at around 3.00am. When Sen couldn’t name the mosque, Ansari asked him, “Are you a Hindu?” Sen replied in the affirmative. At around 4.30am, Ansari returned to the site, grabbed Sen’s arm and said, “You are a Hindu, aren’t you,” and allegedly began attacking him.

Sen fled to Mishra’s cabin, but Ansari caught up with him and demanded that Mishra recite the Kalma to prove he was not Hindu. When he couldn’t, Ansari allegedly attacked Mishra as well. Then, he fled.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said the Mira Road incident is a case of “self-radicalisation” and the ATS and National Investigation Agency (NIA) have been roped in to investigate. He said the case has brought the issue of self-radicalisation into focus.

“It seems that through a large amount of material, via books, the internet and other literature, efforts at radicalisation were made. He appears to have been driven by thoughts of ‘jihad’, meaning killing people of other religions. Now, with the help of the ATS and NIA, the investigation will try to identify who is behind this radicalisation,” Fadnavis said.