One acquitted suspect is terrorist by own admission

Mumbai, Oct 13 (UNI) One of three suspects in the 7/11 Mumbai serial train bomb blasts discharged by a local court today, turned out to be an alleged terrorist from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) by his own admission.

In a statement made in the court of Additional Metropolitan Magistrate A M Garde, Taufiq Hashmi said after serving in the Pakistan army for five years, he joined Al Badr, a terrorist outfit, and rose to become one of its commanders.

Picked up from Srinagar in July in the aftermath of the blasts, Taufiq claimed he had been frequenting Kashmir and had also once travelled to Gujarat on a fund-raising mission in 1999.

Lodged with other blasts' accused in the lock-up of anti-terrorist squad (ATS) after his arrest, Taufiq said when he saw Faizal Sheikh, the key operative of Lashkar-e-Toiba ( LeT) and incharge of 7/11 terror attack in the metropolis, he told police that he had seen him training in a camp in Muzzafarabad in PoK.

Quoting an LeT operative Abu Taraqi in Udhampur, Taufiq said he told him that Zameer Sheikh, too, had trained in Pakistan. Zamir like Faizal is among the 13 accused arrested by ATS in the blast case. He said Taraqi also told him that of the 15-16 people who took part in the 7/11 terror act, two had died.

One of the bomb planters from Pakistan was killed in a blast, while another, also a Pakistani, was gunned down in an encounter in Antop Hill area of the city in August, according to the ATS.

Besides Taufiq, Mumtaz Chaudhry and Khalid Ahmed were today also discharged by the court when the ATS submitted an application, saying they were not wanted by them in the 7/11 blasts case. All three were arrested under the Unlawful Activiies (Prevention) Act.

All the remaining 13 accused in the case were, however, arrested under the stringent Marharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). Of them police remand of six - Naved Hussain Khan, Mohammed Majid, Shiekh Mohammmed, Mohammed Shajid, Abdul Wahid and Asif Khan alias Junaid - was today extended till October 26 by the designated court of Ms Mrudula Bhatkar on prosecuter's request.

The other seven accused arrested under MCOCA are in judicial custody till October 20. They are Dr Tanvir Ansari, Muzamil Sheikh, Faizal Sheikh, Kamal Ansari, Zamir Sheikh, Ethesham Siddiqui and Sohail Ahmed Sheikh.

UNI XR SA PR DB2228