The state Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) is keen on questioning Firoz Ghanswala, a member of a Lashkar-e-Toiba module busted by the Delhi Police Special Cell in May. The squad believes he is close to Raheel Abdul Rehman Sheikh, suspected of having played a key role in planning the 7/11 serial blasts.

The ATS says it has also learned that Ghanswala — an automobile mechanic originally from Mumbai’s Mahim area — knows a lot about LeT operatives in the city. It is planning to send a team soon to Delhi’s Tihar Jail, where Ghanswala is lodged.

Raheel, one of the prime suspects in the Aurangabad arms haul case, is believed to have recruited Ghanswala and helped him travel to terror camps in Bangladesh. ATS officers suspect Ghanswala also knows about Raheel’s links with the Lashkar’s top brass and his visits to Pakistan.

They want to ask Ghanswala if knows anything about Nepal-based Lashkar commander Junaid’s involvement in the blasts. Junaid is believed to have been in contact with Bihar-based alleged LeT operative Kamal Ahmed Mohammed Vakil Ansari (32), who was the first to be arrested by the ATS for his suspected role in the blasts.

Investigations also revealed that it was Junaid who controlled the Aurangabad module, and instructed Raheel on operational matters and arrangement of passports and visas for other local Lashkar operatives. ATS officials say they have learned that Ghanswala had, during questioning, told his interrogators in Delhi that Raheel had travelled to Pakistan for terror training in June 2005 and that both had been in regular contact since September 2003. Ghanswala has allegedly also said that it was after witnessing the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat that he decided to join the ‘jehad’ but had failed to establish contact with a terror outfit.

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