‘LeT rebels tried to stop Fahim from joining outfit’

According to Nawaz,Ali told him that he was disillusioned with the LeT and was distancing himself from the outfit since it was “deviating from its objectives and misleading people”.

“He (Ali) also conveyed the same message to Fahim Ansari,a Maharashtrian who was motivated to go for training in Pakistan and had come to Muscat en route. As he was already motivated,Fahim Ansari decided to go ahead with the training,” claimed Nawaz.

Nawaz told the police that Ansari went ahead and told the LeT leaders in Pakistan that he had been discouraged from going for training by Ali and Jasim,following which the two were removed from the operations circle of the outfit.

Ansari was arrested in February 2008 in connection with the January 1,2008 attack on the CRPF camp at Rampur in Uttar Pradesh along with Sabahuddin,the main accused in the December 2005 attack on the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore.

Ansari and Sabahuddin are the two LeT trained men of Indian origin who are accused of facilitating the attack on Mumbai. Ansari is accused of offering maps and videos facilitating the November 26,2008 terror siege.

Sarfaraz Nawaz,31,who is from Kerala,is a former SIMI activist accused of being a key player in the Bangalore serial blasts case as well as a conspiracy to send youths from Kerala for terror training in Kashmir.

Though not officially acknowledged,Nawaz was believed to have been picked up in Oman and brought to India. He was based in Oman and,according to his own accounts,came into contact with LeT operatives including Ali and Jasim and a Gulf region in-charge Wali alias Rehan alias Shameem,a Pakistani who motivated him to take up jihad,in May 2007.

Nawaz has told the police that while initiating him into the LeT,Ali told him that the LeT was created by former military officers and is involved in fighting the jihad in India. Ali said the LeT motivated people to fight in the name of Islam through religious groups but ended up making religious leaders the scapegoats for terrorism in the bargain,according to Nawaz.

According to Nawaz,the Oman national tried to dissuade him from joining the LeT saying the outfit had lost support due to the “mishandling of various issues”,including the training of militants where trainees suffered injuries and deformities.

According to Nawaz,it was Wali alias Rehan who suggested that an attack should be carried out in Bangalore rather than Chennai since it would attract more attention on account of “IT development and economic growth”.

According to the police,Nawaz himself did not undergo training. The funding and logistics for the Bangalore blasts were handled by him,along with Ummer Haji alias Nasir Tadiyandavede,an operative from Kerala who is yet to be arrested.