The Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Saturday received transit custody of Mumbai serial blasts convict Jalees Ansari, who was detained in Uttar Pradesh on Friday after jumping parole.
Ansari (68), convicted for carrying out a string of blasts across the country from 1989 to 1992, went missing from his Mominpura residence on Thursday while on parole from Ajmer Central Jail. He was detained in Kanpur on Friday in a joint operation between the ATS and the U.P. Special Task Force.
An ATS officer said, “We have received transit custody of Ansari for three days. During this period, we have to bring him back to Mumbai and produce him before a local court. An ATS team will leave with him for Mumbai on Saturday night.”
The officer also said the ATS would be seeking Ansari’s custody so that he can be interrogated before being sent back to prison to resume his life sentence.
He said, “The priority is to find out if anyone was helping him to cross the border into Nepal so action can be taken against them. We need to find out how he was planning to get into Nepal and what his later plans were.”
The ATS has found out that Ansari went to Kanpur hoping to secure help from two childhood friends. However, it was only after he visited their residences that he learnt that one of them had passed away a year ago and the other one was not present in Kanpur. Ansari then made inquiries about viable travel options to enter Nepal, but he was intercepted and detained, sources said.
Another ATS officer said, “He was holding the hand of a boy, who was around 10 years old, when he was caught. Inquiries have confirmed that he was taking cover at a local mosque to plan out his next step. During this time, he struck up a conversation with a resident and offered to watch his son for a while. Having a small boy with him was an effective way of blending in and anyone looking for him would not have spotted him easily. His actions testify that age does not seem to have dulled his wits.”
