Ashraf Ali, a suspected Indian Mujahideen operative who was nabbed on Thursday from his hideout near a mosque at Port Novo in Cuddalore district, has been taken to Rajasthan for further investigation.
According to police sources, his involvement has been ruled out in the twin blasts that rocked Chennai Central on Thursday.
The police version is that Ali had sneaked into the State in the guise of a volunteer of the Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah in Delhi to offer religious lectures in different States. He had adopted this modus operandi to avoid suspicion.
The Rajasthan Anti-Terror Squad zeroed in on his whereabouts in Port Novo on Thursday evening after a nationwide manhunt spanning several weeks.
The 40-year-old Ashraf Ali is the main suspect in the setting up and running of sleeper IM modules in Jodhpur. Ali, who belongs to Uttar Pradesh, was running a footwear shop in Jodhpur. The sleeper module in Rajasthan was busted by the Ant-Terror Squad and the Delhi Police Special Cell in March.
Following the arrest of two terror suspects in Jodhpur with explosives last March, Ali immediately left Jodhpur for Delhi by train, and from there he arrived in Chennai by train and was lodged there for a while.
The interrogation of the arrested terror suspects in Jodhpur led the police to clue in on the likely involvement of Ali.
Monitoring his mobile records, the Anti-Terror Squad traced him to Port Novo. ATS sleuths, with the assistance of the Cuddalore district police, accosted the suspect while he was loitering around a mosque at Port Novo.
The suspect was taken to the Thukkambakkam police station where he was grilled by the Tamil Nadu police who probed various angles, including whether he was involved in Thursday’s blast on the Bangalore-Guwahati Express.
After extensive inquiry, Ali was produced before Chief Judicial Magistrate Kingsley Christopher for remand.
While he was waiting in the court, he swooned. The police had to sprinkle water to bring him back to his senses and produce him before the magistrate. Passing an order on the plea for transit remand, the court directed the ATS to produce him in the local court in Jodhpur within five days.
