Ahmedabad blasts: police say Bashir has confessed

Mufti Abu Bashir, the man from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh who has been arrested by the Ahmedabad Detection...

Mufti Abu Bashir, the man from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh who has been arrested by the Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) in connection with the July 26 Ahmedabad serial blasts, has reportedly confessed to his role in the blasts, which killed more than 55 and injured over 200.

Joint Commissioner of Police (DCB) Ashish Bhatia said, “He (Bashir) has confessed that he was involved in the planning and execution of the blasts.”

The DCB officials have arrested 10 persons in connection with the blasts. Nine of them are from Gujarat who, according to DCB officials, had worked under Bashir’s direction to trigger the blasts.

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According to DCB officials, Bashir is one of the two masterminds of the blasts, the other being Abdul Subhan Usman Qureshi alias Qasim alias Zaqir alias Kab alias Tauqir (Ansar) from Mira Road in Thane who is absconding.

Sources said Bashir had overtaken the SIMI operations after the arrest of its top leader Safdar Nagori in March 2008 by the Madhya Pradesh Police. Bashir has reportedly confessed that he had stayed at a rented house in Vatva for two months along with two other absconding accused and that he had planned the entire conspiracy after holding a number of meetings of SIMI activists at different places in the city.

Bashir had got four SIM cards in the name of locals and these were the numbers on which he used to remain in contact with some of the core members of the group which had hatched conspiracy. These numbers had recorded only incoming calls from PCO booths in Juhapura area, which ultimately helped the DCB officials crack the case. Later, it was revealed that the incoming calls were made by Zahid Shaikh, one of the key accused, from Sandhi Avenue on the Sarkhej Highway.