Maharashtra ATS searches two premises related to techie with ‘Al Qaeda links’
Action follows arrest of software engineer Zubair Hangargekar in Pune; one of the premises searched was reportedly used for a meeting
In an investigation unrelated to the Delhi blast, the Maharashtra ATS has searched the premises of a teacher in Thane and another person in Pune in connection with the recent arrest of a software engineer for his alleged links with Al Qaeda and other banned outfits.
The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Wednesday (November 12) clarified that it was examining as part of the standard procedure whether the arrested techie had a possible connection with the Delhi car blast that left 12, including the alleged bomber, dead.
The arrested Pune-based software engineer, Zubair Hangargekar, had reportedly used the teacher’s house in Thane’s Mumbra for a meeting.
Alleged Al Qaeda links
The ATS nabbed Hangargekar (37) from Pune on October 27 for his alleged links with banned outfits such as Al Qaeda and for his suspected involvement in radicalisation activities. The ATS claims to have found a Pakistani contact number saved on his old phone during the investigation.
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While probing further, the ATS learned that Hangargekar had visited Mumbra for a meeting. Accordingly, the ATS team visited the teacher’s house on Tuesday (November 11) and inquired about Hangargekar and his meeting.
An official clarified to news agency PTI that the teacher is neither an accused nor a witness in the case. Another official said the premises of two individuals had been searched, one in Kondhwa (Pune) and another in Mumbra, but they were not linked to the Delhi blast.
Earlier this month, the ATS told a Pune court that Hangargekar used to deliver religious discourses “aggressively” in Kondhwa. During a house search there, the ATS claimed to have seized mobile phones containing deleted PDF files titled “Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and All Its Manifestations”.
Pakistani numbers in phone
The agency also claimed to have recovered an Urdu translation of a speech delivered by the late Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden on Eid-ul-Fitr. In addition, a magazine titled Inspire was found, containing photographs of AK-47 training at the OSG Gun School and documents detailing the procedure to make an IED using acetone peroxide from an OSG bomb school.
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The ATS had also told the court that during the searches, an old phone belonging to Hangargekar was recovered from one person. “During the analysis of the contact list of the phone, five international phone numbers were found saved, including one from Pakistan, two from Saudi Arabia, and one each from Kuwait and Oman,” it said.
The call detail records of the phone, however, did not show any calls to these saved numbers, the ATS said.
(With agency inputs)