Maharashtra ATS to interrogate Madani

Mohammed Umer Madani, the alleged operative of Lashkar-e-Toiba’s Nepal module arrested on Thursday, will be interrogated by Maharashtra Police’s Anti-Terrorism Squad to untangle gaps into the July 2006 Mumbai serial train blasts probe, reports Abhishek Sharan.

Mohammed Umer Madani (50), the alleged operative of Lashkar-e-Toiba’s (LeT) Nepal module arrested on Thursday, will be interrogated by Maharashtra Police’s Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) to untangle gaps into the July 2006 Mumbai serial train blasts probe.

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Madani, being quizzed by many agencies, “will be especially grilled to know the whereabouts of four absconding accused, including two Pakistanis, of the July 11, 2006 Mumbai train blasts”, said a senior Intelligence Bureau officer who requested anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

“These four accused had been sent to Mumbai between May 25 to June 25 in 2006 by LeT’s Nepal module that works as a logistic hub for terror activities in India,” he added.

Among the four Mumbai 11/7 terror attack accused —now absconding — who arrived in Mumbai from Nepal, were two Indian Lashkar operatives — Hafiz Zuber and Abdul Rehman — who were allegedly recruited by Madani. The two other accused were allegedly “Pakistani bomb-planters.”

“It was Madani who had recruited Ansari in early 2000,” said joint commissioner (Special Cell) PN Aggarwal.

Ansari, currently in a Mumbai jail and an alleged bomb planter himself in the train blasts attack, is among the 13 men belonging to the LeT and SIMI (Students’ Islamic Movement of India) chargesheeted by the ATS.

Incidentally, revealed an ATS officer who requested anonymity, “Kamal Ansari was so committed to Madani and the LeT that he never revealed who recruited him.”