They have been identified as Salman Farsi alias Abdul Latif Aini and Farooq Iqbal Makhdoomi and are ractitioners of Unani medicine.
The Anti-terrorism squad (ATS) arrested two men, both practitioners of Unani medicine, on Monday night in the Malegaon blasts conspiracy.
They have been identified as Salman Farsi alias Abdul Latif Aini and Farooq Iqbal Makhdoomi. While Farsi was arrested in Govandi, Makhdoomi was picked up from Malegaon.
The ATS suspects that the RDX used in the Malegaon blasts was part of the same consignment of RDX used in the July 11 train bomb blasts in Mumbai. The duo, both former activists of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), ferried the explosives from Mumbai to Malegoan, ATS sources said. Farsi is the uncle of Nurul Huddah, who was earlier arrested by the ATS for being the “planter” in the Malegaon blasts case.
Speaking to the media persons, ATS chief KP Raghuvanshi said, “Farsi and Makhdoomi were key planners in the blasts conspiracy. Both have past criminal records.” Raghuvanshi, too, indicated that the July 11 and Malegaon blasts could be interlinked. “Since Farsi was a neighbour of Mohammad Ali ( an 11/7 accused), we believe he knew about the July 11 blasts.”
Farsi did his BUMS course from Malegaon in 1995 and was practising at a dispensary at Shivaji Nagar in Govandi since 1998, police sources told DNA. Makhdoomi’s father teaches at ATT High School in Malegaon. He reportedly completed his BUMS course from Mansoora College in Malegaon.
A senior police officer said that Farsi was also in touch Zabiuddin Ansari and Mohammad Faiyaz Kagzi (prime suspects in the Aurangabad arms haul case).
“He had met Ansari and Kagzi a few days before the cache of arms was seized from Aurangabad. This shows that people involved in the arms seizure and Malegaon blasts are linked, and SIMI activists played a prominent role in providing logistical support to the terrorists,” the officer said.
According to Crime Branch officials, Farsi had met some senior SIMI activists during Huddah’s wedding in Malegaon on May 7 — a few days before the Aurangabad arms seizure.
Some SIMI members present at the wedding — Riyaz Ahmed Mohammad Ramjan alias Raju, Mushtaq Ahmed Mohammad Isak, Javed Ahmed Abdul Majid, Afzal Khan Nabir Khan and Mohammad Sharif Shabbir Ahmed — were arrested in the Aurangabad arms haul case; while Farsi and Shabbir Batterywala were arrested in the Malegaon blasts case. Cops are also on the lookout for other SIMI members present at the wedding who have been identified only as Iftiyaar, Aquil, Aklaq, Khalid Munawwar and Safdar Bhai.
My husband is innocent: Nafisa
In the bylanes leading to Salman Farsi’s dispensary in Govandi, people are shocked at the arrest of their “well-behaved and knowledgeable” neighbour. “He is a god-fearing man,” said Niyaz Ahmed, a neighbour.
“My husband is innocent,” said Farsi’s wife Nafisa, “I never expected he would be arrested.” Her two sons, aged seven and eight, play around the house. “Police chacha will let him off. I don’t know why they have taken him away,” said Mutminnah, 6, Farsi’s daughter. Nafisa agrees that Farsi was an active member of SIMI. “(But) he withdrew from SIMI’s activities after we shifted to Mumbai in 1998. The police do not have any proof. They are just harassing us,” she said. Farsi was famous for his religious discourses on the Koran and was popular among youngsters.
— Poornima Swaminathan
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