Varanasi blast ‘brain’ shot in J&K was UP madarsa teacher

The police claim he was a top Harkat-ul-Jehad-i-Islami leader who was the ‘‘main organiser’’ of the March 7 Varanasi blasts that killed 20 people. He was shot today in a joint operation by the J&K police’s Special Operations Group, the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force and troops of the Army’s 4 Para.

Police said two others who were along with Zubair managed to escape during the encounter.

Handwara SSP Nitesh Kumar said the militant had been on the run for two weeks in the Valley. ‘‘Zubair tried to flee to Bangladesh but failed because of constant police pressure. So he came to Kashmir and was planning to cross over to Pakistan,’’ said Kumar.

The UP STF said that Zubair’s name first cropped up in the Varanasi blasts probe following the arrest of Phoolpur’s imam, Waliullah, on April 5. Zubair vanished the earlier night. ‘‘Both Zubair and Waliullah worked for the LeT before shifting to HUJI. Waliullah told us that it was actually Zubair who had met him on February 12 near Allahabad and told him that ‘‘ladke aa rahe hain Bangladesh se, Benaraswala kaam karna hai,’’ STF SSP S K Bhagat told The Indian Express.

Bhagat claimed Zubair’s association with terrorism was old. ‘‘His name first came up in 2001 when we killed three LeT militants in Lucknow. We are checking the records now. Zubair and Waliullah were classmates at Deoband over 15 years back. Both had been arranging for the training of their recruits in Pakistan as well,’’ said Bhagat.

Zubair’s younger brother Haroon said that Waliullah used to come to Tanda to meet Zubair. ‘‘Zubair told me that Waliullah was seeking donations for his madarsa in Phoolpur. We never suspected anything else,’’ he said.

Bhagat said the three terrorists who landed in Phoolpur in early March were also introduced to Waliullah by Zubair after which Waliullah helped them carry out the plan. ‘‘It became clear to us that Zubair was the main mind behind the blasts. However, on April 5, when we raided his village, Zubair was gone,’’ said SSP Bhagat.

Zubair’s father Mohd Yousuf, however, said that his son had left for Badaut near Baghpat town on the night of April 4 along with his family for some work but later disappeared after abandoning his wife and children there.

“We searched for him everywhere. Since then, police has been banging on our doors each day,’’ said Yousuf.

The neighbours are shocked. ‘‘Zubair was a nice man, used to stay quiet most of the time as far as we know. After completing his education at Deoband, he had gone to Jaipur to teach at a madarsa there for a year,’’ said Ishaq Abad, a neighbour.

The cat-and-mouse game between Zubair and the police lasted over a month. ‘‘He tried his best to escape to Bangladesh from the Bengal border but our team foiled his attempts by stepping up vigil. Frustrated, he went to J&K around 15 days back to cross the border. We got information and our STF unit from Ghaziabad has been camping there for six days now. Early this morning, our unit got concrete information on him which was passed on to the J&K police and Army,’’ said Bhagat.Around 5.15 am, Zubair was shot dead by the troops of the Four Jat and the SOG of the J&K police.

aman.sharma@expressindia.com(with EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE in SRINAGAR)