Delhi blasts: ‘Hang my son if he is guilty’

Addressing a press conference in south Mumbai, Zubeda said Abdus would never commit such an act considering his upbringing.

“We come from a very good family and have good traditions,” she said. “Our children have been brought up well and are living in peace with members of all communities,” Zubeda, clad in a black burqa (veil), said.

She also said her son had been staying with his wife separately since 2001 in suburban Mira Road and they had no idea about what activities he was involved in.

“We do not want any more trouble for our family because of him,” Zubeda said. None of the other members of the family was present at the press conference fearing action against them, the family’s lawyer Mubin Solkar said.

Tauqeer was named by the Gujarat police as being one of the masterminds behind the Ahmedabad serial blasts.

He is also accused of having sent the threatening emails for terror group Indian Mujahideen from Mumbai.

In a written statement signed by Abdus’ parents, Usman and Zubeda, they said following the blasts in Ahmedabad and Delhi they found “to their horror” that their son was accused of being involved in the dreadful act.

“We wish to state that given the values and principles with which we have brought up our children, it is impossible to believe that Abdus Subhan would ever indulge in such acts of violence and terrorism,” they said.

His parents said Abdus had studied and worked with people from different communities and therefore it was unlikely that he had hatred for them.

Pleading with him to surrender, they said that by concealing himself Abdus would only make himself more prone to further accusations and would become a “soft target” in the event of any other terrorist act in future.

“It is very painful that the media has already passed a guilty verdict against our son even before he has been tried by a court of law,” they said.

Their lawyer Solkar said soon after the serial train blasts in Mumbai on July 11, 2006, Abdus ceased to keep in touch with his wife and three children. “He was married in 1999 and lived separate from his parents since 2001,” Solkar said.

The family had no knowledge if Abdus was involved in any activities related to SIMI or any other terror group. “As far as his parents know, he had no inclination towards fanatic ideology and was not a religious fundamentalist,” Solkar said.

The family is not even sure if he is alive or dead and had made no attempt to contact him fearing action from authorities, he added.

Following the interrogation in 2006, the family had decided not to keep in touch with Abdus as they felt they could get in trouble for doing so. “The family has co-operated with all authorities so far,” Solkar said.

He also said Tauqeer had not been shown as a wanted accused in the July 11 serial train blasts case and had no criminal record.

Sometimes, even an innocent person might run away fearing police action, Solkar said. Asked why the family did not file a missing persons complaint after Abdus went missing in 2006, Solkar said that after interrogation by various agencies they decided not to do so.

“We have no idea if he had any contact with SIMI functionaries like Safdar Nagori or Ahmedabad blasts accused Abdul Bashar,” Solkar said.

Abdus, who was educated in a convent school in Mumbai and then acquired a diploma in engineering, was also a Microsoft Certified software engineer, he said.

After completing his education, he worked with a franchisee of Wipro computers and with software firm Datamatix in the city, Solkar said.

However, in 2001 he quit Datamatix and his family had no idea about his source of income after that till he left them in 2006, he said.