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Abu Rashid, Mohammad Sajid in Islamic State video planted bombs in 7/11 train blasts

Both were part of five who planted bombs in Mumbai locals in 2006

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Pictures of Sajid (left) and Rashid (right) from the National Investigation Agency website
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Before they escaped from India and made their long-winding journey to Syria to join the dreaded Islamic State (IS), Abu Rashid and Mohammad Sajid, residents of Sanjarpur in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, had planted the pressure cooker-laden bags filled with explosives in the 7/11 serial blasts in Mumbai trains, which killed 209 people.

The two men who feature in the IS video `Bilad-al-Hind, between pain and hope' released last week, are identified by intelligence agencies as Abu Rashid Ahmad and Mohammad Sajid alias Abu Talha al Hindi. Both are most wanted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) as members of the Indian Mujaheedin – the first home-grown jihadi group and carry Rs 10 lakh reward on their heads.

Senior Mumbai police officials confirmed to dna that Abu Rashid was one of the planters. In a confession to the Gujarat police in 2009, IM chief operative Sadiq Israr Sheikh mentioned Abu Rashid and Mohammad Sajid as part of a five-member team who placed bags in first class compartments of the Western Railway network in July 2006.

Sheikh's confession was not accepted as evidence in the court as it was not made under Sec 164 CrPc. Some investigators strongly believe the theory that Sheikh and IM were responsible for the blasts. Last year, 12 accused, all allegedly linked with the banned SIMI, were convicted under the Special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

In the confession recorded by the Gujarat police, the plan to carry the Mumbai blasts was hatched by Atif (killed in the Batla House encounter) in Azamgarh's Sarai Meer during a discussion with Sadiq. Less than a month after the Sankat Mochan blast in Varanasi, Atif wanted to carry out more blasts, and around May-June 2006, it was decided that the next target will be Mumbai.

They later roped in Dr Shahnawaz (Alam) and Abu Rashid who were living in Sewree, Mumbai. But at that time, Rashid happened to be in his native place Sanjarpur, an 8-minute drive from Sarai Meer. Atif later roped in a fifth person from Sanjarpur, Mohamad Sajid, who was then staying in Andheri.

dna contacted the families of Abu Rashid and Sajid in Azamgarh, who acknowledged their stay in Mumbai. Abu Rashid, who has studied ophthalmology, was working in an optician's shop in Andheri and was residing with his relatives in Sewree, said his brother Abu Sad, a primary teacher. Shakir, a teacher in a local madarasa, also confirmed that in 2006, his brother was staying in Mahakali, Andheri, at his uncle's place and was working in a jewellery shop.

Rashid, according to Sadiq's testimony, was put in charge for hunting for an apartment to house the IM group of five members.

"Since he was already staying in Sewree, he found a flat in the nearby locality. We all stayed here,'' says Sadiq. It was from this flat in Sewree that explosives weighing 35-37 kg were sourced from Mangalore and later filled in seven pressure cookers.

On July 11, from 4pm, the team departed, one by one, with bags carrying the cooker bombs from Sewree to Dadar and placed them on trains. In September 2008, the Mumbai police busted the IM module and arrested the co-founder as well as the head of IM's Azamgarh module, Sadiq Sheikh, from the outskirts of Cheetah Camp in Trombay. Sadiq's interrogation revealed that the 7/11 blasts were carried out by him and his men. The Azamgarh module was also involved in the Ahmedabad as well as the Delhi blasts.

A senior official from Mumbai crime branch recalled Sadiq revealing Abu Rashid's role in the train blast as a planter. "Sadiq had sent Rashid to Pakistan for training in 2005-06. After the Ahmedabad blasts in July 2008, Rashid left for Sanjarpur for Eid,'' he said.

The Mumbai police picked up Rashid's brother and relatives from Sewree. "We started getting calls from the family that the police were harassing and calling them for questioning at odd hours,'' recalled Sad, Rashid's elder brother while talking to dna.

Hot on the trail of IM members, days before the Batla House encounter, a team from Mumbai police left for Sanjarpur to nab Rashid and other IM members of the Azamgarh module.

The team, however, faced strong resistance from locals in Sanjarpur. "We were not allowed to enter by angry villagers and since there was a huge law-and-order issue, we had to abort the operation," the officer said. Sad says the police contacted the family and ask them to hand over Rashid.

"We readily agreed as they just wanted to question Rashid. As per instructions from the police, on September 24, 2008, Rashid went to Mohammadpur and we believe the police picked him up from there. We never heard back about my brother, we don't know what happened.''

Rashid is believed to have given police the slip along with other IM operatives, Dr Shahnawaz, Chota Salman and Mohammad Sajid and left for Lucknow after the Batla House encounter from where they entered Nepal. "In Nepal, they got fake passports made using Riyaz Bhatkal's contacts and fled to Dubai. Rashid worked in an optician's shop in Dubai for a while. Later Riyaz instructed Salman to come back to Pakistan and then sent him to Nepal in 2010 from where Salman was picked by the Special Task Force (STF) team just after the German Bakery blast case," the officer said.

From Dubai, Rashid, Dr Shahnawaz and Sajid went to Pakistan to work alongside Riyaz Bhatkal who was closely in contact with members of al-Qaeda and its ally Taliban in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region.

The three, however, began to have disputes on funding and ideology issue with Bhatkal. Around this time, the IS group had made spectacular gains capturing large tracts in Syria and Iraq. Appealed by IS, its ideology and operations, a few members split from Bhatkal's IM to form the Ansar-ut-Tawheed and travelled to Syria.

Two years later, Rashid and Sajid made their debut as IS fighters in a propaganda video as Abu Umar al Hindi and Abu Talha al Hindi. In the ending part, Rashid stares at the camera and says, "Don't you remember the serial blasts in Mumbai trains, in Delhi, Gujarat and Jaipur? We will cause bigger destruction than this.''

NIA to conduct forensics on video

NIA officials in Delhi said they will be sending the IS video to the forensics laboratory to identify the authenticity of the video, images of which were first released in July 2015. "Some parts appear to have shot last year, few are new. We also want to identify why was it released now."

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