Surat: The detection of crime branch of city police arrested Abdul Subhan alias Kasim alias Jakir alias Taukeer Mohammad Usman Qureshi (47), on Tuesday for his alleged involvement in the 2008 Surat bomb planting case.
His custody was taken from Ahmedabad police and he was remanded in police custody by a local court until April 19.
Police brought Qureshi from Ahmedabad for further investigation of the Surat bomb planting case. He is one of the main accused in the case who had conducted terror training camps at Pavagadh and in Kerala.
Qureshi is one of the key planners of the Ahmedabad bomb blast that claimed 56 lives and left 240 people injured in July 2008. Terrorists of the Indian Mujahideen (IM), formerly Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), had planned the blasts in Ahmedabad and Surat. But due to some technical fault, the 29 bombs planted in the Diamond City did not explode. Police had recovered two cars loaded with explosives then.
Qureshi, who had studied diploma engineering, exhorted IM members to carry out Jehadi activities in Gujarat and elsewhere. He held meetings and organized camps with members of the terror group. He visited the city twice before planting the bombs for which he held discussions with Sajid Mansoori and others.
He was arrested from Nepal border by the special cell of Delhi police on January 22, 2018, and later handed over to Ahmedabad police for investigation of the bomb blast cases.
So far, police have arrested 71 accused in the bomb planting case. Fifteen offences have been registered at different police stations of the city in this case. Police are yet to arrest 11 accused.
