Mumbai techie Abdul Subhan Qureshi’s tryst with terror began long before he wrote the terror emails announcing the role of the Indian Mujahideen in the Ahmedabad blasts. The Mumbai police have been looking for Qureshi, also known as Taufiq, since they began probing the 7/11 blasts two years ago. Some of the prime conspirators in the 7/11 serial blasts had mentioned his name while being grilled by Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) officers.

According to the Gujarat police, Qureshi was the one who procured ammonium nitrate and timers for the Ahmedabad operation and attended SIMI meetings to plan the serial blasts.

The Mumbai police described Qureshi as a highly active member of the Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). His home is at Mumbai’s Mira Road.

“We have known about Abdul Subhan Qureshi for a long while now, but he is a wily SIMI activist who has always managed to give us the slip. His name first cropped up during he interrogation of arrested SIMI members Asif Khan Bashir Khan alias Junaid and Ehteshaam Siddiqui. Even LeT (Lashkar-e-Toiba) operative Faisal Shaikh named him,” said a senior police officer involved in the 7/11 investigation.

As Newsline reported on July 20, the ATS had re-launched the hunt for Qureshi after his name was disclosed by Safdar Nagori and Shibly Peedical Abdul, the SIMI’s all-India and South India chiefs, respectively.

Qureshi was, however, never booked by the ATS in the 7/11 serial blasts case, as they failed to gather enough evidence against him.

“According to our information at the time, Qureshi was an important SIMI member who had undergone training in explosives and making bombs,” said the officer.

Some reports say Qureshi had passed the tenth standard and was yet a computer expert. Others say he holds a diploma in electronic engineering, and worked with a direct selling agency of Wipro between 1996 and 1998.

Even in the 7/11 serial blasts case, arrested accused like Naved Hussain and Muzammil Shaikh got jobs with big companies though they were not even graduates. They attended computer courses and forged documents to get jobs in big companies, the officer said. Muzammil, younger brother of LeT’s Mumbai chief Faizal Shaikh, was working with Oracle in Bangalore when he was picked up by the the Mumbai police crime branch and handed over to the ATS, while Naved worked for a call centre in Hyderabad.

Arrested SIMI activists told the ATS that Qureshi was also responsible for collecting funds for the organisation. Records show that he was arrested by the Kurla police in 1999 in a case of defacement of property. However, he has never been booked by the ATS under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.