MYSURU: In a startling revelation, it has come to light that a dreaded terrorist who had joined ranks with slain Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had studied at a college in Mysuru. Zainalabideen Mahammed Hussein Abu Zubaida is currently in the custody of United States (US) armed forces ever since his arrest in 2002.
According to the admission records of Sarada Vilas College at Krishnamurthypuram here, a copy of which is available with TNIE, Zubaida and four of his friends had been admitted to BSc in computer science in 1989. However, they did not complete the course as they failed to clear the first year exams. They were staying in a rented place near MG road at Udaygiri and vacated the house soon. They did not return later, sources said.
According to the admission records, Zubaida hailing from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia is the son of a teacher. It is believed that he went to Delhi from Mysuru from where he moved to Afghanistan. However, he suffered wounds in the conflicts and was out of action for sometime, during which he worked as a manager at a hostel where Jihadi fighters were accommodated.
Zubaida rose to become Laden’s senior lieutenant and counter-intelligence officer, considered as the third highest ranking member in Al-Qaeda. He was also part of several terror plots, including the 9/11 attacks on World Trade Centre in New York. However, he was captured in March 2002 in Pakistan. He is currently kept in Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp in Cuba.
Interestingly, Zubaida was maintaining diaries where he had also mentioned his maid in Mysuru, named Philomena. Police Commissioner Dr A Subramanyeshwar Rao said, “I also learnt about such reports in a section of media. But I am not aware of the source. Even if the sleuths attached to high-level investigation agencies are probing the same, there is no compulsion that they have to inform local police.”