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Did Abdul Subhan Qureshi visit Mumbai after 2008 blasts in Gujarat, Delhi? ATS to investigate
Qureshi has cases registered against him in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and other places
Did Abdul Subhan Qureshi alias Tauqeer, the alleged co-founder of terrorist outfit Indian Mujahideen (IM), visit the city after he allegedly masterminded the 2008 serial blasts in Gujarat and Delhi? This is what the Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad (ATS) will try to ascertain when they interrogate him.
Qureshi has cases registered against him in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and other places. The ATS of different states will to await their turn to get custody of him. Since Qureshi is one of IM’s founders, officials said they will examine his role in other serious cases, which will be clearer once security agencies question him about his activities.
The state ATS has dug out Qureshi’s file and a list of cases against him in the state. Sources in the agency said they will soon send a team to New Delhi to assess and question him.
Agencies see Qureshi as a former Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) man, who was instrumental in building up IM and organising its logistics.
Qureshi first came on the police’s radar in 2001, when he and the Bhatkal brothers were booked for protesting in Kurla against the government ban on SIMI. The Mumbai police are investigating the case, lodged under the Unlawful Assembly (prevention) Act (UAPA). Qureshi was convicted in a case lodged by the Pydhonie police under the Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities Act, and has to pay a fine of Rs200.
The state ATS has filed two cases against him. In the first, a UAPA case, he and SIMI chief Sabdar Nagori were alleged to have met in Ujjain and planned a conspiracy. The case was filed based on a statement by Ehtesham Sidduqui, who was convicted in the 2006 train blasts. Qureshi was booked in the second case, in which jihadi literature was seized from a SIMI activist in Pune in 2008.
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