His journey from being a quiet boy to ‘India’s bin Laden’

MUMBAI: Abdul Subhan Qureshi’s journey as a terrorist began in 2001 when he left a reputed computer firm to pursue religious activities and went on to edit Islamic Voice — the mouthpiece of the banned Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).

Qureshi alias Tauqeer, suspected of being involved in the serial blasts in Gujarat and Delhi in 2008, was arrested by Delhi Police after a gunfight on Saturday night following a tip-off. He figured in the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) most-wanted list. Investigators looking for details about the alleged top bomb-maker of the Indian Mujahideen (IM) had little clue about who indoctrinated Qureshi, a quiet boy in school who went on to be labelled as the Osama bin Laden of India.

Qureshi had become a staunch SIMI activist by 1998 and, sources in the police said, also attended its conference in 1999 at Aligarh, which was addressed by the founder and spiritual leader of Palestine’s Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yasin.

Many believe that Qureshi was indoctrinated by Sadiq Israr, the arrested co-founder of IM and a resident of Cheetah camp in Mumbai, along with Salim Mujahid Islahi from Hyderabad.

Islahi was shot dead in 2004 when a team of Gujarat police officials opened fire to disperse a mob that tried to prevent the arrest of Maulana Naseeruddin, an accused in the murder of former Gujarat minister Haren Pandya. An officer of Delhi Police said Qureshi held the top rank in SIMI after the arrest of general secretary Safdar Nagori from Indore in March 2008.

The 45-year-old’s name cropped up for the first time in the list of wanted terrorists when IM operatives sent out emails claiming responsibility for blasts in UP, Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Delhi between 2007 and 2008.

As investigators are trying to piece together information about him, a Maharashtra Anti-terrorism Squad officer said his six brothers and sisters are well-educated and not inclined to anti-national activities.

Qureshi’s journey into terror- ism has stunned his teachers at Antonio De Souza High School in Byculla. A teacher, requesting anonymity, said that he was not the kind of student who would score a 90% in mathematics or any subject but he would do better than many others in his class.

Qureshi scored 76.6% in his secondary school examination in 1988 and obtained a diploma in industrial electronics from Bharatiya Vidyapeeth at Kharghar in 1995. He also did a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer course from CMS Institute in Marol and worked for Datamatics.