Mumbai techie on our radar since 7/11: cops

His name was allegedly mentioned by some of the prime conspirators in the 7/11 serial blasts while they were being grilled by Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) officials.

According to the Mumbai Police, following the train blasts two years ago, a massive manhunt was launched for Qureshi, a “highly active member” of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) residing in Mira Road, but with no success.

“We have known about Abdul Subhan Qureshi for a long while now, but several attempts to locate him have failed as he is a wily SIMI activist who has always managed to give us the slip. His name first cropped up after the 7/11 serial blasts, when arrested accused like SIMI members Asif Khan Bashir Khan alias Junaid and Ehteshaam Siddiqui dropped his name. Even LeT (Lashkar-e-Toiba) operative Faisal Shaikh named him during his interrogations. The ATS tried very hard to locate him, but he had gone underground,” said a senior police official involved in the 7/11 investigations, on conditions of anonymity.

“According to our information at the time, Qureshi was an important SIMI member who had undergone training in explosives and was a bomb-making expert. While we were told he was a Class X pass-out, he was also supposed to be a computer expert,” said the officer.

According to the Gujarat Police, Qureshi is the one who allegedly procured ammonium nitrate and timers for the Ahmedabad operation and attended SIMI meetings to plan the serial blasts. He is also suspected to have prepared the Terror e-mails sent out by the ‘Indian Mujahideen’.

He also reportedly holds a diploma in electronic engineering, and worked with a direct selling agency of IT giant Wipro between 1996 and 1998.

“Even in the 7/11 serial blasts case arrested accused like Naved Hussain and Muzammil Shaikh got jobs with big companies even though they were not even graduates. They attended some computer training courses, and also forged documents to get employed,” said the officer.

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