Arrested dentist says ‘Motu Doctor’ not his cousin Sabeel

Imran is a cousin of Bangalore brothers Sabeel Ahmed and Kafeel Ahmed and was also married to their sister. Kafeel was killed in June 2007 during a suicide mission to drive a jeep with explosives into the Glasgow airport.

A medical doctor,Sabeel was accused in the 2007 plot to bomb Glasgow airport but released and deported to India after he admitted withholding information.

He has been identified as the man nicknamed “Motu Doctor” in a chargesheet filed by the NIA into the LeT conspiracy and is suspected to be in the Middle-East.

Imran was based in Saudi Arabia and was visiting India allegedly on a fake passport,NIA said following his arrest.

The NIA,on the basis of statements of Mohammed Akram,26,who was in Saudi Arabia and arrested in September 2012 by the Bangalore Police for being central to the alleged LeT terror plot,has accused Imran of sheltering Akram and participating in conspiracy meetings with another Bangalore doctor identified as “Motu Doctor”.

Police sources said it is fairly well established that “Motu Doctor” is Sabeel.

However,Imran is believed to have told investigators that he did not know Sabeel as “Motu Doctor” but only as Dr Sabeel. He has claimed “Motu Doctor” is a name given by the police to Sabeel.

He is said to have mentioned meeting many Indians,including Sabeel,in Riyadh but claimed they discussed religion and not terrorism,sources said.

Imran married Sabeel’s youngest sister Sadia Kauser in 2009 but they separated within months,sources said.

A senior advocate from the Association for Protection of Civil Rights,Akmal Rizvi,who is Imran’s lawyer and is familiar with Sabeel’s family,said it is unlikely the two could have been mixed up in a terrorism conspiracy.

“The marriage of Dr Imran and Dr Sabeel’s sister ended in separation within a few months in 2009. In such a situation,the relationship between the two families was not cordial. It is unlikely they would meet,” Rizvi said.

“It looks very odd to me that the two could be linked in a conspiracy last year when the relations between them had soured because of Dr Imran’s separation from Dr Sabeel’s sister,” he said.

Investigators,however,claimed Imran and Sabeel were cousins first and in-laws later. “Both Dr Imran’s father and Dr Sabeel’s father,who were brothers,died after suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease which runs deep in the family,” sources said.

They said Sabeel’s mother Dr Zakia Ahmed,who lives alone with her daughter in Bangalore since her husband’s death,was not aware Sabeel was again linked to a terror case after being identified as “Motu Doctor” in an NIA chargesheet.

The family did not answer telephone calls Tuesday.

Following his deportation from Britain,Sabeel had initially helped his mother run a family clinic. He subsequently moved to Saudi Arabia and is now married as well,sources said.

Although it was claimed Imran traveled on a fake passport,sources said he had traveled on a genuine passport obtained by providing wrong information. “He was sent back from Saudi Arabia because his previous employer,a private marketing firm,refused to transfer his visa to a new employer. It is a genuine passport on which the reason for his exit from Saudi Arabia is stamped. It is a false charge that he traveled on a fake passport,” Rizvi said.

Imran’s mother Shakeela Akhtar was scheduled to address the media Tuesday but cancelled it as she was disturbed by a death in family.