HYDERABAD: The arrest of Naveed came as a rude jolt to his neighbours in the Lake Shore Tower apartment building at Neredmet. In a joint operation, the Mumbai and Hyderabad police picked up him at the high-rise on Friday night on charge of involvement in the 7/11 attacks at Mumbai.

"Naveed had been living in the flat for the past two years but rarely mixed with any of us," R. J. Naidu, Naveed's neighbour on the ground floor, said. An ex-serviceman, Naidu said that Naveed always kept the doors and windows of his flat closed.

He used to pay the mandatory maintenance amount of Rs. 300 for the flat much before other occupants paid. For some reason, he did not pay the amount for the months of June and July on time. The Mumbai police announced that Naveed was in Mumbai a few days before the blasts were carried out.

Speaks on phone

Once a friend of Naveed came to the flat when the latter was away. "When I raised objection, the stranger called up Naveed who told me over phone that he was in Mumbai on some work," Mr. Naidu recalled. Taken aback by his alleged involvement in 7/11 attacks, the neighbours are shocked that Naveed returned to Hyderabad quietly afterwards and lived amongst them like an innocent.

He had a Maruti car since he checked into the apartment two years ago. Two days before leaving for Mumbai, Naveed closed the flat's front doors and stared using only the rear door. When asked, he reportedly maintained that he was shifting some furniture.

Naveed used to be close to a woman, a call centre executive, who was living alone in a rented flat on the top floor of the same building. The Cyberabad police are questioning the woman and Naveed's roommates, Swasthik and Ibrahim.

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