7/11 attacks: Man brought from Sitapur

TNN / Nov 9, 2006, 01:29 IST

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Imran Nisar Ahmed Ansari was arrested by the Mumbai crime branch on suspicion that he is connected to the banned SIMI.

MUMBAI: Imran Nisar Ahmed Ansari, allegedly a close associate of the main conspirators behind the 7/11 train bombings, was arrested by the Mumbai crime branch on Wednesday on suspicion that he is connected to the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).
Twenty-eight-year-old Ansari was brought to Mumbai late on Tuesday night from Sitapur jail in Uttar Pradesh (UP) where he was in custody for allegedly assaulting police personnel and participating in illegal activities.
Ansari, who has been charged with the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act of 1967, was produced before the Metropolitan court and remanded to police custody of the crime branch till November 27.
Investigators suspect Ansari was part of a module of subversives who had visited Pakistan in 2002 and acquired bomb-making skills.

"We want to interrogate Ansari on the whereabouts of his associates and their possible future plans," said a crime branch officer.
According to sources, Ansari underwent training in making bombs along with suspected SIMI activists Irfan Anjum Ali Sayed, Firoz Ghaswala, Rahil Shaikh, Mohammed Ali Chippa and Mohammed Najeeb Bakali, all of whom are wanted in connection with the 7/11 serial blasts.
Ansari is believed to have visited Gujarat after the 2002 riots along with Bakali and Ghaswala. And it was there that Ghaswala allegedly told Bakali and Ansari to avenge the killings of innocent people.
And when Ghaswala returned to Mumbai, he had allegedly procured VCDs of training camps run by Osama bin Laden and distributed provocative literature prepared by SIMI, said police officials.

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