The Uttar Pradesh police today claimed to have averted an attack on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) with the arrest of six Lashkar-e-Toiba militants who were also said to be involved in the attack on the CRPF centre at Rampur on New Year’s night. Police said the six men — two of them are Pakistan nationals — planned to strike at the BSE and Churchgate in Mumbai.

UP DGP Vikram Singh told reporters that the same group was involved in the December 2005 attack at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore. One of those arrested today, Sabauddin Ahmed, who belongs to Bihar, is believed to have led both the Rampur and Bangalore attacks.

The attack on the CRPF centre had left seven jawans and one civilian dead, while a Delhi-based professor died in the IISc incident.

While Fahim Ahmed Ansari alias Abu Zarar alias Shahir, Mohd Sharif alias Mohd Anwar and Jang Bahadur alias Baba were arrested from Moradabad, Sabauddin Ahmed alias Abu Quasim, Abu Zar alias Amar Singh and Abu Sama alias Avdesh were picked up from near the Charbagh railway station in Lucknow.

It is Sabauddin from Gandhwar village of Bihar’s Madhubani district who is being considered the prize catch. “He had secured admission in Bangalore’s Presidency College for a Bachelor’s in Business Application. He is extremely computer savvy,” Brij Lal, Additional DG of UP’s Special Task Force which arrested the men, told The Indian Express.

While Sabauddin was said to have undergone terror training in Pakistan in 2004, police claimed Fahim Ahmed and Abu Zar are Pakistanis, belonging to Rawalpindi and PoK’s Samahani.

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