Hyderabad cops question BEST bus blast accused

A team of police officials from Hyderabad has been in the city for the past two days questioning Tajul Islam Qazi, 34, a software engineer, who was arrested on November 23 for his alleged involvement in the 2002 Ghatkopar BEST bus blast case. Rahul Mahajani reports.

A team of police officials from Hyderabad has been in the city for the past two days questioning Tajul Islam Qazi, 34, a software engineer, who was arrested on November 23 for his alleged involvement in the 2002 Ghatkopar BEST bus blast case.

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Crime branch sources said Qazi had been living in Hyderabad for the past 10 years under an assumed name - Siddiqui Taj Qazi.

"The Hyderabad police want to verify if he was involved in any terror activity in that city and if he used the city [Hyderabad] as a base," a source said, adding that as he had lived there for 10 years, the police from Hyderabad want to probe if he was involved in terror activities as the city has been targeted before by terrorists.

Himanshu Roy, joint commissioner of police (crime) confirmed that Qazi, who was in the custody of the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU), was being questioned by a police team from Hyderabad.

Qazi, police said, was involved in the Ghatkopar blast that took place in a BEST bus on December 2, 2002, killing two and injuring 49 others. The police claim Qazi was a conspirator and had also provided technical support for the blast. Qazi, police said, was a suspected member of the banned Students Islamic movement of India (SIMI).

The police teams had kept tabs on the movement of his Aurangabad-based relatives, who aided his arrest.