HYDERABAD: His idols: Top SIMI leader Shahi Badr Falahi, self-styled Harkat-ul Jihad-al Islami (HUJI) commander Muhammed Abdul Shahed alias Bilal, Tehreek- Tehfooz Sharia-e-Islam (TTSI) chief Moulana Naseeruddin, Darsgah-Jihad- O-Shahadat president Shaik Mahboob Ali.
His enemy no. 1: Hyderabad City Police, particularly officers who were present when police opened fire at a mob after bomb blasts rocked the Mecca Masjid.
What kept him going: Images of the Babri Masjid demolition, the Godhra riots and the Mecca Masjid bomb blast.
That, in short, is what Syed Viqaruddin is all about.
He was a youngster who loved to pose for pictures with a toy gun. He grew into a sharpshooter and a mostwanted fundamentalist and gave sleepless nights to the Andhra Pradesh police and their counterparts in other states.
According to sources, Viqar’s journey to jihad began after he joined the Saidabad-based fundamentalist outfit Darsgah-Jihad-O-Shahadat (DJS). He participated in several protest rallies which DJS chief Shaik Mahaboob Ali used to organise every Dec. 6, the Babri demolition anniversary.
The rally, in which children also participated carrying toy AK-47s, turned Viqar into a hardcore fundamentalist.
He was trained in `self-defence’ with lathis.
For sometime, he ran a video games shop in the Old City of Hyderabad but it ran into losses and he shut it down.
He came under the influence of Bilal, the self-styled HUJI commander who is believed to have been killed in a shootout in Karachi in August 2007, days after the Gokul Chat Bhandar and Lumbini twin blasts in Hyderabad.
Sources say Viqar spoke to Bilal a few times and was deeply ensnared in the jihadi ideology. He was projected as the next Bilal, but sources said Viqar developed cold feet after rumours began to circulate that the Hyderabad police were hunting for him and that he would meet the same fate as Bilal.
Known to be a computer wiz and master of disguises, Viqar, then 26 years old, left home about two years ago. ``Though he came in touch with some Lashkar cadres in Dubai and Saudi Arabia, he somehow never met them. He even thought of receiving weapons training in Pakistan,’’ sources said.
An Intermediate passout, Viqar left his family, telling them simply that he was going to Chennai.
While associated with fundamentalist outfits like TTSI and DJS, he was inspired by the speeches of top SIMI leader Shahi Badr Falahi and began to circulate CDs to ``like-minded’’ youngsters in the Old City.
He attended programmes organised in the house of Mahaboob Ali and Moulana Naseeruddin, at which several SIMI cadres were reportedly present.
``Some of the militant cadres with whom he established contact gave him the task of recruiting youth.
But he was of a violent bent of mind and wanted to get into action mode,’’ sources said.
Police believe that Viqar introduced several youngsters to cyber terrorism.
His father Muhammed Ahmed and three sisters have always maintained that Viqar never got in touch with them since leaving home.