Plot clearer as cops join Mumbai, Rampur dots

Some of the names of Lashkar-e-Toiba handlers being mentioned by Ajmal Ameer Kasab, the only terrorist nabbed alive in Mumbai, are the same as the ones named by Mumbai resident Fahim Arshad Ansari alias Abu Zarar, an alleged Lashkar-e-Toiba operative arrested by the UP Special Task Force in February for the attack on the CRPF camp in Rampur.

Ansari’s interrogation report, a copy of which is with The Sunday Express, also lists several Mumbai locations he allegedly helped the LeT handlers zero in on while he was in Pakistan and also surveyed them during a visit to Mumbai for a possible attack. The CST railway station, the Taj Mahal Hotel and Colaba, which were attacked last week, figure on that list.

“I have gone through Fahim Ansari’s interrogation report. We will move an application in court on Monday to get an arrest warrant for him and we plan to send a team to U.P. on the same day to take his custody,” Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria said today.

In the report, Ansari names Zaki-ur-Rehman Naqvi, Yusuf alias Muzammil and Kahafa/Kafa as some of the LeT handlers he came in contact with while he was in Pakistan for training last year. The same names have also been mentioned as the handlers the 10 terrorists who attacked Mumbai were in touch with during their transit. Police also say that it was Naqvi who was responsible for indoctrinating the 10 men.

According to Ansari, he reached Pakistan in February or March 2007 and was trained in handling explosives, survival techniques and intelligence gathering at a Baitul Mujahideen camp for about 10 months and Kahafa was his instructor at the intelligence and explosives training camps.

“At Baitul Mujahideen, I was shown the map of Mumbai on google earth.com. Kahafa asked me to point out important places in Mumbai. He noted down and marked those places in the map. The prominent places shown were C.P. Mumbai office, DGP Maharashtra office, Gateway of India, Navy Nagar, Colaba, Taj Mahal hotel, Mantralaya, Wankhede Stadium, Race Course, Church Gate Railway Station, BSE Building, Haji Ali Dargah, Airport (Santa Cruz, Sahar), St. Mary Church, Reliance Energy Building, BARC, forest cover near BARC, Kalina Army gate, INS Hamla, Aksa beach etc,” the report quotes Ansari as saying.

“They enquired about the height of the airport wall, wire-fencing and the location of aircraft runway from the nearest building. They also enquired about the possibility of striking the aircraft from the nearest building. Kahafa was also keen to know about the availability of taxis near the DGP office,” he adds.

In the last page of the report, Ansari says that besides some of the locations he helped Kahafa list on the Google earth map, he did a recce of Mahalaxmi Railway Station, Breach Candy, Mahalaxmi Temple, the U.S. Consulate, the Chief Justice’s House, Raj Bhawan, Jaslok Hospital, Vidhan Bhavan, World Trade Centre, R C Church, Lions Gate, CST Railway Station, Sterling Cinema, Capital Cinema, Oval, Azad Maidan and Minara Jama Masjid in late December 2007 and early January this year as instructed by Yusuf.

“I took photo and video. I drew a diagram of roads/buildings,” Ansari adds. According to the Crime Branch, the 10 terrorists were shown photographs and video footage of their targets in the city during their training and investigators now want to probe if these are the same ones captured by Ansari.

Meanwhile, police sources said that they had recovered a diary from the fishing trawler Kuber used by the terrorists to reach Mumbai. The diary is said to contain the names of the 10 men on a duty chart for tasks such as keeping a vigil and guarding Amarsinh Solanki, the boat’s captain who was later found killed.