His name was allegedly mentioned by some of the prime conspirators in the 7/11 serial blasts while they were being grilled by Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) officials.

According to the Mumbai Police, following the train blasts two years ago, a massive manhunt was launched for Qureshi, a “highly active member” of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) residing in Mira Road, but with no success.

“We have known about Abdul Subhan Qureshi for a long while now, but several attempts to locate him have failed as he is a wily SIMI activist who has always managed to give us the slip. His name first cropped up after the 7/11 serial blasts, when arrested accused like SIMI members Asif Khan Bashir Khan alias Junaid and Ehteshaam Siddiqui dropped his name. Even LeT (Lashkar-e-Toiba) operative Faisal Shaikh named him during his interrogations. The ATS tried very hard to locate him, but he had gone underground,” said a senior police official involved in the 7/11 investigations, on conditions of anonymity.

However, Qureshi was 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 was a bomb-making expert. While we were told he was a Class X pass-out, he was also supposed to be a computer expert,” said the officer.

According to the Gujarat Police, Qureshi is the one who allegedly procured ammonium nitrate and timers for the Ahmedabad operation and attended SIMI meetings to plan the serial blasts. He is also suspected to have prepared the terror e-mails sent out by the ‘Indian Mujahideen’.

He also reportedly holds a diploma in electronic engineering, and worked with a direct selling agency of IT giant 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 even though they were not even graduates. They attended some computer training courses, and also forged documents to get employed,” said the officer.

Muzammil, LeT Mumbai chief Faizal Shaikh’s younger brother, was working with software giant Oracle in Bangalore when he was picked up by the Mumbai Police Crime Branch and handed over to the ATS. Naved worked for a call centre in Hyderabad.

Further, as The Indian Express first reported on July 20, the ATS had once again launched a hunt for Qureshi after his name was disclosed by Safdar Nagori and Shibly Peedical Abdul, the all-India and south-India chiefs, respectively, of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), after they were brought to the city from Indore on June 22 along with two other SIMI activists.

The two top SIMI activists told the ATS that Qureshi was an important SIMI member who was also responsible for collecting funds for the organisation. Qureshi was also supposed to attend the high-level meeting of SIMI activists on July 6, 2006 at a densely forested place near Ujjain. However, he cancelled his plans of attending the meeting two days prior to it.

Records show that he was arrested by Kurla police in 1999 in a case of defacement of property. However, he has never been booked by the ATS before under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, the ATS called in the father of medical student and alleged SIMI activist Farhan Khan for questioning in connection with the four cars stolen from Navi Mumbai that were used in the Gujarat terror strikes.

According to the ATS, Khan is a medical student and was studying in Indore. He was also arrested in 2006 by the Madhya Pradesh Police for his alleged links with SIMI.

“Khan’s father, who runs a medical store in the slums of Juhu, was called for enquiries to ascertain the whereabouts of his son, who is presently absconding,” confirmed Joint Commissioner of Police, ATS, Hemant Karkare, adding that it would be premature to term Khan as a suspect in the Ahmedabad blasts case.