AHMEDABAD: Gujarat police today said that Altaf Qureshi, the suspected ISI agent held from Mumbai two days ago, had been arrested during a communal riot at Dhoraji in Rajkot district of the state in 2002.
After Qureshi was arrested from south Mumbai by Anti-Terrorism Squads of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, Rajkot police started a probe into his links in Gujarat, said Rajkot Superintendent of Police Antrip Sood.
Qureshi (37), accused of working for Pakistan's spy agency ISI, had been arrested and charge-sheeted in a rioting case at Dhoraji town, his native place, back in 2002.
"On checking past records, we found out he was arrested as well as charge-sheeted in a case of rioting and attempt to murder during the incident of communal violence in Dhoraji. He was part of a mob which damaged property," Sood said.
Qureshi's family still lives in Dhoraji.
"We have learned that Qureshi moved to Mumbai a few years ago. Upon learning about his arrest, we formed several teams to investigate whether he had any connections here," Sood said.
According to ATS, Qureshi deposited money in the bank account of Aftab Ali, another ISI agent, in Lucknow for carrying out espionage activities. Aftab was arrested from Faizabad in UP on May 3.
Acting on leads provided by Aftab, the UP ATS picked up Altaf and Javed Iqbal from Mumbai. The three were part of an espionage ring with links to the Pakistan High Commission, ATS officials said yesterday.