The Hindu : Front Page : Police get no leads from Abul Bashir

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Tuesday, Aug 26, 2008
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Police get no leads from Abul Bashir

Marri Ramu

HYDERABAD: A year after the twin terror strikes in Hyderabad, police investigation is back to square one with focus shifting from one suspect to another.

As interrogation of Abul Bashir, arrested by Gujarat police in the recent Ahmedabad serial blasts case, could not give any clue about the twin blasts, investigators are now looking out for Abdul Subhan Qureshi alias Touquir, a top Indian Mujahideen operative. Believed to be a prime suspect in Ahmedabad explosions, Qureshi visited the city at least four times before bomb blasts were triggered at Lumbini Park and Gokul Chat on August 25 last year.

Police sources said Qureshi came into limelight based on inputs given by Bashir who has denied charges linking him to the blasts here. “I am a religious preacher only,” interrogators quoted him as insisting.

After grilling him for the past five days in Gujarat, police have not been able to secure any crucial lead connecting him to terror plots here.

Bashir reportedly maintained that besides teaching at a ‘madarsa’, he used to give ‘Taqreer’ (speech) on religious matters and ‘Dars-e-Quran’ (discourses on ‘Quran’) during weekends. Police, however, stumbled upon Qureshi on grilling some more terror suspects arrested by the Gujarat police.

Qureshi, along with top cadre of Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) -- Safdar Nagori and Adnan -- held meetings about their ‘future plans’. In this backdrop, police are inquiring whom the trio had met here especially considering that, for the Ahmedabad blasts, he reportedly took the help of SIMI which is not too strong here.

“Nagori admitted that fundamentalist organisations more radical than SIMI are working in Hyderabad and he didn’t need SIMI to carry out any task,” a police officer said. He refused to name the organisations as concrete evidence was yet to be collected.

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