Blast suspects’ neighbours just can’t believe it

For residents of the slums from where police picked up people suspected of orchestrating Black Monday, disbelief is still sinking in. Chiman...

For residents of the slums from where police picked up people suspected of orchestrating Black Monday, disbelief is still sinking in. Chimanpada, in Andheri (East), is a shanty town with attention focussed on them.

They’re enthusiastic about the attention, but are categoric about one thing — Hanif (45), his wife Fehmida (37) and daughter Farheen (18) are the last people anybody would suspect of the allegations against them.

‘‘They’ve lived here for nine years. They never got into trouble. We still cannot believe all this,’’ says Dilip Jagtap (42), a painter. Ravi Nair, another local, says they were considered somewhat conservative. ‘‘The women wore burqas and Hanif set out for namaz. In fact, for most of us it was a shock when we heard ‘‘dangerous things’’ were seized from their home and that they might be implicated in the blast,’’ he adds.

How the case
was cracked

• Cabbie Vasudev Pandey helps cops to sketch the couple and their daughter who hired the cab that blew up at the Gateway

• Unidentified man volunteers information on the family. Details match description given by Pandey

• The Intelligence Bureau begin working on the details. With the sketches, 50 cops in plainclothes land up at Andheri where the family boarded the cab

• Help sought from local
informers, residents. They zero in on the family at Chimanpada in Andheri (East) by Wednesday morning: Hanif (41), Fehmida (37) and Farheen (16)

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• A dozen policemen in disguise as vegetable vendors and salesmen keep a round-the clock watch on the house for four days. Hanif doesn’t venture out much, except for prayers at the mosque

• The Intelligence Bureau digs out details of Hanif’s relatives and friends. They arrest Arshad in J B Nagar, Andheri (West). Arshad is prime suspect for planting the bomb at Zaveri Bazaar.

The locals didn’t know it then, but they had spotted strangers in the area since last Wednesday — first a never-seen-before beggar, then a man seeking electoral and ration card information.

Salma Shaikh, a neighbour, recounts what happened before the arrest. ‘‘At around 8.30 pm on Saturday, a bunch of fancy cars came. Even local cops didn’t know what it was all about. Around 15 plain clothesmen rushed into the galli, told us not to open our doors and windows. By 10 pm, Hanif’s door was locked and the street deserted,’’ she said.

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Fehmida and Farheen Syed were reportedly brought back home early on Sunday along with women constables. They were questioned before being taken back into custody.

The neighbours are vague about Hanif. Till about seven months ago, he would apparently often travel to Dubai where he claimed to work in an electronics shop. ‘‘His son was teaching or learning computers, the three-year-old girl went to an Urdu school. They seemed to be simple people,’’ says Mahesh Patil, another neighbour.

In Junaid Nagar in Andheri (W), similar things were heard about Arshad (25), a zari craftsman. On Saturday, he was seen at the afternoon namaz. ‘‘In the evening, Arshad decided to go for evening namaz. That’s the last I saw him. He is such a nice, regular person who gave no one any trouble. We all grew up with him,’’ says Abdul Nabi.

BJP worker Mohammed Ansari, Arshad’s brother, says they were worried when Arshad didn’t return. ‘‘I filed a complaint at D.N. Nagar police station and the railway police station,’’ he says. Later he saw on TV that an Arshad had been arrested. ‘‘The police have told us nothing,’’ he adds.