One of the core members of the 10-men Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) terror team that had carried out the November 26 Mumbai attacks had an Ahmedabad connection. Hafiz Arshad had used a fake identity card with an Ahmedabad address during the mission that had started on the morning of November 23, when the attackers had hijacked the ill-fated Indian fishing boat Kuber.

A resident of Multan road in Punjab province of Pakistan, Arshad alias Abdul Rehman Bada alias Hayaji, and another terrorist, Javed alias Abu Ali, a resident of Okara district in Punjab, Pakistan, were one of the “buddy teams” (of two terrorists each) that had attacked hotel Taj Mahal Palace. The duo along with others was later shot dead by the security agencies.

Mumbai police’s probe has revealed that Arshad had posed as a resident of Ellisbridge area in Ahmedabad. The identity card gave his name as Raghubirsinh Ranajitsinh, a student of Arunodaya Degree and PG College in Dilsukhnagar in Hyderadad. His permanent address was mentioned as Plot no 673-4 V, Ellisbridge.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Mumbai Crime Branch) Deven Bharti confirmed this. “We investigated the matter and found that it was a fictitious name and address, like on other photo ID cards,” Bharti said.

According to the Mumbai police, Arshad and nine other terrorists including the lone arrested attacker, Ajmal Kasab, were in constant contact with their handlers and co-conspirators in Pakistan throughout their sea journey onboard the Kuber, through satellite phones. Like others, Arshad had boarded the rubber dinghy for the last leg of their journey to the Mumbai coast. After reaching their destination, they divided themselves into five distinct pairs.

Meanwhile, the Gujarat Police officers remained tight-lipped about the issue. “It is their (Mumbai police) investigation and I know nothing about it,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police Abhay Chudasama, who is one of the senior investigating officers in the Ahmedabad serial blasts case. Sources in the Ahmedabad police’s Detection of Crime Branch (DCB), however, said that they have sought for the records of mobile phone numbers — 9910719424 and 9622588209 — that Arshad had used during the mission.

According to the Mumbai police’s chargesheet, Arshad and Abu Ali had reached hotel Taj Mahal Palace and Oberoi Towers in a cab. Before entering the hotel, they had planted 8 to 10 kg of RDX laden Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) near a chowky outside the main porch of the Taj hotel. Fortunately, the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad defused it later.