16 yrs on,’93 train blast accused held from Lucknow

On December 5 and 6,1993,five explosions took place on four trains — Delhi and Howrah-bound Rajdhani trains,Flying Queen Express and AP Express — killing over 200 people and hundred others were injured.

While the blasts on Rajdhani trains took place near Kanpur,the other explosions took place at Kota (Rajasthan) and Malkajgiri (Andhra Pradesh).

The CBI court in Ajmer in Rajasthan,where the trial took place,had sentenced 15 of the accused to life term. While 11 were arrested and sent to jail,four others,including Hamid,were absconding,said ADG (Law & Order) Brij Lal.

Lal added that primary interrogation of Hamid has revealed that he had escaped to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia in January,1994. He,however,was deported to Mumbai from Jeddah on May 18,1995,as his visa had expired.

Hamid stayed in Mumbai till 2000 and came to Lucknow in 2001 where he stayed here till 2004. He went to Mumbai again and returned to Lucknow in January 2007.

Since his return to Lucknow,Hamid did not move to his home at Pul Ghulam Hussain locality in Chowk but chose to live in rented rooms at Saadatganj,Thakurganj and Hussainabad areas before finally shifting to Pakri Gadhaiya locality in Khadra in 2008.

According to SSP (STF) Naveen Arora,Hamid worked as an embroidery artisan and looked completely different from the photograph that was collected by the CBI 16 years ago. He was using a wig since 2001.

During his interrogation,Hamid said that he had come in contact with one Irfan Ahmed of Bahraich in 1992. Ahmed,who used to run a flower shop in his locality,took him to the house of one Dr Jamal Alvi where he met Mohammad Tufail of Hardoi,Kari of Basti district,Mohammad Afaque Khan of Rajajipuram Colony,Lucknow and Dr Habib Khan of Rae Bareli.

Lal said in November,1993 Dr Jalees Ansari,the chief of a Mumbai-based terror outfit Tanzeem Islam-ul Muslamin,visited Alvi’s place and the plan for planting bombs in different trains was hatched.

On December 5,1993,Alvi,Irfan and Hamid left for Kanpur with two boxes carrying timer devices. They stayed at a hotel outside the Central Railway station in Kanpur,said the STF.

According to the STF,Hamid has confessed that he had placed the bombs on the two Rajdhani trains after they halted at Kanpur station.

While Jalees Ansari,Alvi and others were arrested by the CBI,Hamid and three others remained absconding.

The three accused who are yet to be arrested are Ghaziabad resident Syed Abdul Kareem,Hardoi-resident Mohammad Tufail Hussain and Irfan Ahmed of Najipura in Bahraich.

The CBI has announced rewards of Rs 3 lakh,Rs 25,000 and Rs 50,000,respectively on them.