Some vaguely remember his name as having surfaced during the earlier questioning of some Hyderabad-based members of the proscribed Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), which at one point of time had a growing cadre in Hyderabad.
Some described him as a ‘determined’ and ‘committed’ youngster, while others said he was one who could draw people to him easily by his ‘high voltage’ short speeches.
The Hyderabad link with Syed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Hamza alias Abu Jindal, arrested in Delhi on Monday, is most likely to emerge within the next few days, which the state Intelligence agency describing it as a "significant link".
The mention of ‘’Tolichowki area of Hyderabad’’ during the conversation Ansari had with the 26/11 attackers, while the unprecedented strike was on in Mumbai, raised the hackles of the state police then.
It it his this very mention and that of an outfit, ‘Deccan Mujahideen’, that has now made an anxious Andhra Pradesh police look forward to questioning Ansari. A team from the Counter Intelligence cell of the state police will be leaving for Delhi to question him soon.
Sources disclosed to Express that though Ansari’s name does not figure in any of the records available, the information gathered soon after the 26/11 attacks when he mentioned Tolichowki, pointed to a visit of Ansari to Hyderabad, while he was a member of the SIMI.
"His name was disclosed by some persons who were arrested in Madhya Pradesh when there was a crackdown on SIMI cadres a few years ago. We learnt that as part of the cadre building of SIMI, then a young Ansari visited Hyderabad, Karnataka and some places in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat,’’ top sources disclosed.
Investigators believe that Ansari, who hails from Maharashtra, was possibly in touch with some ‘’like-minded’’ elements in Hyderabad, before he vanished in 2005 only to join the ranks of SIMI’s offshoot Indian Mujahideen and subsequently Lashkar-e-Tayyaba.
Ansari allegedly directed the 2611 attackers to conceal their Pakistani identities and to identify themselves as members of ‘’Deccan Mujahideen’’ hailing from Tolichowki in Hyderabad.
Two of the attackers--Shadullah and Imran Babar--called up a TV channel on November 27, using cellphones they had taken from their hostages, and claimed that he belonged to Deccan Mujahideen.
When asked whether he was from Hyderabad-Deccan (India) or Hyderabad-Sindh ( Pakistan), Shadullah said he belonged to Hyderabad of the ‘dakkan’’ (Deccan).
In fact, around the same time, an e-mail was also sent to media houses wherein the outfit, Deccan Mujahideen claimed responsibility. Until then, the intelligence agencies had never come across such an outfit, though they said it was to mislead the investigators.
‘’Even if it was to mislead the investigators, the fact remained that Tolichowki surfaced in the conversations. Significant details are likely to emerge from Ansari’s questioning about his links with Hyderabad,’’ a senior police officer said.
As far as the Tolichowki link with militancy is concerned, there have been quite a few youngsters from this area who fled Hyderabad and joined various militant outfits either in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia or had contacts with them while being present within the country.
As per police records, they include Syed Abdul Rehman Hussaini alias Bada Sajid who joined LeT and HUJI and is presently said to be in Pakistan; Muhammed Abdul Hadi, said to be a member of Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) and is in Dubai; Ata-Ur-Rehman alias Mamu, said to be in LeT ranks in Riyadh and Aslam Khan of Let, in Dubai.
Importantly, there is another Tolichowki resident, Mujeeb Ahmed, an alleged Hizbul Mujahideen militant, arrested a few years ago, who had once spoken of an outfit called Deccan Mujahideen.
Mujeeb, the self-styled commander of HM, and his associates were planning to carry out subversive activities in Hyderabad with the arms and ammunition smuggled from Kashmir. He is said to be a close follower of HM chief Syed Salahuddin and is an accused in the killing of additional SP T Krishna Prasad.
While there are quite a few most wanted men from Hyderabad, most of them are in hiding in Saudi Arabia, where Ansari too has a safe haven. Investigators believe that whenever they get to question Ansari for his Hyderabad link, they are hopeful of getting some leads about the Hyderabadis who are in various militant outfits both in Pakistan and Gulf.