ATS files chargesheet against techie held for plotting to blow up American School

Apart from Ansari, the ATS has named another man, who he is alleged to have interacted with him online, as a wanted accused in the case. Ansari, a Kurla resident, was arrested by the ATS on October 18, 2014 from the office of the multinational company at SEEPZ in Andheri (East) where he was working. During his interrogation, he was allegedly found to be a sympathiser of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the extremist outfit now known as the Islamic State (IS).

Ansari was booked under sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder) and 115 (abetment of offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life) of the Indian Penal Code, besides relevant sections of the Information Technology Act. The youth, who was recently denied bail, has since been in jail.

According to an officer privy to the development, the ATS has retained almost all the charges in its 728-page chargesheet, which names 50 witnesses, including Ansari’s colleagues, his friends and forensic experts who gave a 40-page report based on examination of six computers seized by the agency from his office.

The other person named as wanted accused by the ATS in the chargesheet has been identified as “Omar Elhaji”. According to the ATS, Ansari, who was registered as Usayrim Logan on his Facebook account, often communicated with Elhaji on the social networking site about his plans to blow up the school. The two allegedly discussed how Americans had “slaughtered” women and children for the last 70 years and that they (Ansari and Elhaji) had a “debt of over 1 million to settle since 1920”. Elhaji allegedly promised to help him in his missions.

A Facebook post on “how to prepare a thermite bomb” is included as crucial evidence in chargesheet, said the officer. The ATS has also claimed to have retrieved some of Ansari’s messages to his friends in Kurla in which he sent images and messages about the Shia-Sunni conflict in Iraq and made an “emotional appeal” to them to support the IS.