With a degree in electronics engineering, a job in an MNC, Abdul Subhan Qureshi — co-founder of Indian Mujahedeen and ideologue of SIMI nabbed on Monday from Delhi — led a comfortable life in Mumbai in 2000 until he came in contact with the Bhatkal brothers.
Qureshi is the main suspect in the Ahmadabad serial blasts of 2008. A senior police officer, privy to the investigation, said, “Qureshi is a well organised person. He has worked in companies like Wipro, Data Matrix and others. Qureshi is also a swimming expert.”
He also has a deep knowledge of local as well as international issues pertaining to Muslims and most importantly, a gift of gab to influence and motivate impressionable minds into waging jihad. He had received sound technological knowledge, besides doing Industrial Electronics from Bhartiya Vidhyapeeth, Mumbai and completed a hardware networking course.
Police said by 2000, Qureshi had transformed into a highly radical youth, totally disillusioned with the establishment and determined to follow jehad. By now he had become a prominent member of SIMI and the ‘Shura’ of SIMI assigned him the task of editing the English edition of its magazine ‘Islamic Movement’. He left his well-paid job in Mumbai and moved to Zakir Nagar in Delhi. During his stay in Delhi, he grew very close to Safdar Nagori, then general secretary of Central Advisory Committee of SIMI.
In 2001-02, after SIMI was banned in September 2001, some activists of SIMI were arrested in Surat, Gujarat and his name also figured during the investigation. In order to evade Surat Police, he shifted his base to Bijapur, Karnataka. Safdar appointed him “head ansar” of Karnataka operations. While staying in Bijapur Qureshi frequently travelled to Bhatkal and revived his association with Riyaz Bhatkal and also came in contact with Iqbal Bhatkal. At that time Bhatkal was the nerve center of radical youths; and Qureshi who was by now second in command of SIMI, became a co-founder of Indian Mujahideen (IM) along with Riyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal. He efficiently worked as the main bridge between the old cadre of SIMI and the newly founded IM.
By 2005, after reviving SIMI in South India and forging proper ties with IM, he diverted his energies to carrying out action in Maharastra and Gujarat. The officer said Qureshi, along with Safdar Nagauri, were the main organizers and chief instructors of the training camps. Subsequent to the arrest of Safdar Nagauri, Qureshi became the head of SIMI and took the initiative to engineer the 2008 serial blasts in Gujarat. For this purpose, he contacted his IM associate Riyaz and went to meet the latter in Pune in May/June 2008 to share the details of his plan and offered his team to physically execute the Bomb Blasts.
As per plan, a group of radically motivated youths of Indian Mujaheedin were tasked with planting bombs at different places in Ahmadabad and Surat in Gujarat. On July 26, 2008,23 serial bomb blasts rocked Ahmadabad city resulting in death of 57 persons and grievous injuries to over 150 persons. In total 20 cases were registered in different police station's in Ahmadabad.
In continuation of the blasts, the terrorists of IM planted IEDs at several places in Surat, The IEDs did not explode due to malfunctioning of the timer device. Police recovered 29 unexploded IEDs between 27thJuly and 3rdAugust, 2008. If the IEDs had exploded hundreds of precious lives and extensive loss to property would have occurred.
As soon as the role of SIMI or IM came to the fore, Qureshi fled Gujarat and landed at Ranchi. From Ranchi, he went to Chappra and onward to Raxaul on the Indo-Nepal border in Bihar. He crossed over to Nepal and reached Birat Nagar where he met one Nizam Khan, a SIMI sympathizer. He informed Khan about his SIMI links but did not disclose his real identity. With Nizam’s help he started to live in Batta, Birat Nagar and also started to teach in Christian Boarding school, Batta. He stayed in Batta from Oct 2008 to Jan 2009 and then moved to Gorkha, said police.