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Has hunt for 2006 serial bombing architect ended?

Praveen Swami

Arrest raises hopes of full justice for terror victims

NEW DELHI: Ever since a botched Delhi Police raid allowed Rahil Abdul Rehman Sheikh to escape his home on Mumbai’s Grant Road, there has been little word on the man the Maharashtra Police believes was among the key commanders of the 2006 serial train bombings in Mumbai.

Indian intelligence assets had reported seeing Sheikh, still hobbling from injuries to his leg sustained when he jumped two floors out of his apartment window, at a Lashkar safehouse in Bangladesh soon after the bombings. Later, there were other sightings at the offices of the Lashkar’s top military commander, Mohammad Azam Cheema.

But until reports on Tuesday suggested Mr. Sheikh had been arrested in London, he had for all practical purposes disappeared.

Police in Maharashtra say Mr. Sheikh provided passports and funds for dozens of Lashkar recruits to be trained in Pakistan.

Now, news of his arrest has revived hopes that a full picture of the command-level planning of the serial bombings could emerge — and with it, the prospect of full justice for the victims.

Based on the interrogations of suspects held for the 2006 Mumbai bombings, as well as several Aurangabad-based SIMI operatives held for an abortive 2006 attempt to trigger blasts in Gujarat, the Maharashtra Police believe Mr. Sheikh’s recruits travelled through Tehran on legitimate Indian passports and Iranian pilgrimage visas, before crossing through the Zahedan border into Pakistan.

Recruited after riots

Most of Mr. Sheikh’s operatives were recruited in the wake of the 2002 communal pogrom — and several of his operations targeted Gujarat.

For example, Feroze Ghaswala, a Mumbai-based automobile engineer who was recruited by Mr. Sheikh at a gathering addressed by controversial evangelist Zakir Naik at Srinagar in 2003, volunteered for military training after witnessing the communal violence first-hand. Both Mr. Ghaswala and his associate, Mohammad Ali Chippa were arrested in the course of an abortive attempt to stage a revenge bombing in Gujarat.

Like most of the core members of the 2006 serial bombings cell, Mr. Sheikh spent much of his time at Mr. Naik’s Mumbai-based Islamic Research Foundation. While there is no suggestion that either Mr. Naik or the IRF were in any way connected to the terror strikes, cell member Irfan Deshmukh worked there as a librarian, providing perfect cover for meetings. Interestingly, the IRF is the sole South Asian centre listed as a religious learning resource on the website of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the Lashkar’s parent religious organisation.

Second Rahil Sheikh

Maharashtra police sources say Mr. Sheikh could have been in the United Kingdom to seek assistance from a second Rahil Sheikh they believe could have been linked to the 2006 bombings: Birmingham-based computer engineer Rahil Ata-ur-Rahman Sheikh.

Mr. Sheikh is suspected by the Maharashtra Police to have helped funnel funds to a Lashkar-e-Taiba-linked Students Islamic Movement of India module that carried out the 2006 serial bombings. Mr. Sheikh’s brothers, Faisal Ata-ur-Rahman Sheikh and Muzammil Ata-ur-Rahman Sheikh, are currently being tried in a Mumbai court for their alleged role in the serial bombings.

Maharashtra Police sources say Mr. Sheikh, who obtained a job in the United Kingdom after demonstrating stellar academic achievement in his studies in industrial electronics, was a long-standing SIMI member.

According to Maharashtra Police records, Faisal Ata-ur-Rahman Sheikh propelled the turning of all three brothers towards SIMI. In 1999-2000, Faisal Sheikh began attending religious education classes organised by SIMI, where he met with several figures who later participated in the 2006 bombings, including Rahil Abdul Rehman Sheikh. In June, 2001, he obtained a legitimate Indian passport, hoping to travel to Pakistan. Six months later, in January, 2002, he crossed the border on the Samjhauta Express and trained with the Lashkar in Muzaffarabad and Lahore.

However, Maharashtra Police sources say, there was not enough hard evidence to justify issuing an Interpol warrant against the second Mr. Sheikh.

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