When they clicked the ‘Add Friend' or ‘Confirm' buttons on the Facebook, little could scores of students have known that they would be befriending a terror accused.
Records of email and the Facebook accounts collected by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad reveal that Naquee Ahmed Wasi Ahmed Shaikh (22), Nadeem Akhtar Ashfaque Shaikh (23), arrested and chargesheeted in the July 13, 2011, triple blast case befriended college students from across the country. They have been accused of providing logistical support to the blast perpetrators.
“I don't even know who Nadeem is and if he is my friend on the Facebook. This is a total surprise,” an Indian Youth Congress (IYC) member, who figures in Nadeem's friend list, told The Hindu on the phone on Saturday.
“I have some 1,200 friends on the Facebook; I don't know who is who. Now I will have to go un-friend Nadeem! I don't know him personally. He sent me a request and I accepted. Since I am in politics, I have to accept everyone. I only reject requests from Pakistan,” the IYC member said. When asked whether the ATS asked him about his friend list, the reply was in the negative.
Students from well-known colleges and universities from all over India have been listed as friends in the Facebook account of the duo. One of the friends in Nadeem's list is a staff of DD News.
As per the charge sheet, Naquee and Nadeem's profiles have 31 and 143 Facebook friends respectively.
Grabs of their account information on the social networking site are part of the charge sheet submitted to the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court on Friday.
Their profile said they were college students themselves. Naquee has claimed to be from the Patna University and hailing from Darbhanga, Bihar. Nadeem has stated he is a T.Y.B.Com. student at the Akbar Peerbhoy College of Commerce and Economics, Mumbai.
The charge sheet says that both Naquee and Nadeem are natives of Darbhanga, Bihar, where Yasin Bhatkal 13/7 key conspirator and Indian Mujahideen handler and controller indoctrinated youths. Both were in close contact with Yasin, who is absconding.
While Naquee attended one of the ‘Dars' or lessons delivered by Yasin, Nadeem has confessed to stealing two scooters used in the blast at Zaveri Bazaar and Opera House. According to the ATS, the duo stayed at Mumbai's Habib mansion, where Yasin was also holed up. The agency sieved a desktop computer from the apartment where they stayed. The cyber forensic report is still awaited.
