[Reader-list] Article on Ahmedabad blasts - Tehelka

[Rakesh Iyer]

Dear all

At the risk of igniting a huge controversy on this forum, I am putting forth
an article which is published in the recent Tehelka issue, on the Ahmedabad
blasts. I am not sure which view to take, (since I don't know whom to
believe and how much) but I strictly believe that to avoid such
controversies, it's time all of us really press the govt. to bring a law
forcing the state govts. to undertake proper police reforms in a 'holistic'
sense so that the police authorities function in a professional, transparent
and a humane manner which seeks to bring justice, while also removing from
it the inactive policemen and all kinds of political interference.

Regards

Rakesh

Article:


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      *From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 6, Issue 31, Dated August 08, 2009*
 *CURRENT
AFFAIRS*   *cover story *

*Chilling Confession*

*‘WE WERE TOLD THAT BOYS HAD COME FROM OUTSIDE. THEY WERE NOT LIKE US. THEY
WORE JEANS AND T-SHIRTS. I KNEW ABOUT THE BOMBS... I BACKED OUT BECAUSE THEY
WERE NOT KEEPING THEIR PROMISE. INSTEAD OF TARGETTING THE VHP, THEY WERE
PLANTING BOMBS IN CROWDED PLACES TO KILL INNOCENTS’*
[image: image]

*The Gujarat Police took quick credit for arresting the masterminds behind
the July 2008 blasts in Ahmedabad. **RANA AYYUB** tracks the police’s star
witness to find he has been tortured into falsely implicating the
‘masterminds’. An exclusive report*

HE HAS a name, but lets just call him ‘Witness’. He had a life too — like
yours and mine — till 26 July 2008, when serial blasts shook Ahmedabad.
Between 6.45 and 7.55 that evening, 16 bombs exploded in various parts of
the city, including in a hospital where the injured were being rushed to. As
the death toll reached 56, Witness had only one thought – he could have been
responsible for the bloodletting, the mayhem, the death of innocents.

He almost was. Witness was in on the plot. He knew bicycles were being
bought. He knew low-intensity explosive devices were being assembled. He
knew they would be concealed in tiffin boxes and the boxes placed in the
bicycles. But Witness withdrew at the last minute — barely 24 hours before
6.45 in the evening — when he learnt that the target areas had changed. As
the plot was being hatched in meetings Witness attended before July 26, he
was given to believe that RSS and Bajrang Dal offices would be targeted. But
the script changed. Witness withdrew when he realised that innocent people
in crowded places would be slaughtered.

The Gujarat Police was quick to blame the blasts on the Indian Mujahideen
(IM), the same group held responsible for the blasts in Jaipur on 13 May
2008. But when different states paraded different faces, all proclaiming
their catches as the IM’s mastermind, TEHELKA started an investigation that
led it to Witness.
 [image: image]  *Implicated* A forensic team investigates the site of one
of the serial bomb blasts that took place in Ahmedabad on 27 July 2008  *Photo:
*SHAILENDRA PANDEY

The testimony of Witness is important — and credible — for several reasons.
First and foremost, because he indicts himself, openly admitting he was part
of the plot till the last moment. This gives his words credence. His words
gain even more credence because he has given more or less the same narrative
to the Gujarat Police. The narrative changes at one crucial place – when he
reels off the names of the men behind the Gujarat blasts. But wait. Witness
has told TEHELKA that he was physically tortured by the police into naming
innocents, that he could not bear the physical and mental torture he was
subjected to. They were not responsible for the serial bombings, he swears.

I, TEHELKA’s special correspondent, landed up at his house in Juhapura,
accompanied by the wife and daughter of an accused in the case. Witness’
sister opens the door. Her brother is not home, she says. As I speak to her,
a male voice asks from inside, “Who’s there?” When she does not answer, a
man comes to the door. He is around 22, dressed in kurta and jeans, just
like any college student. The lady with me says, “He is the one.” Yes, this
is the Gujarat police’s star witness. The police arrested people on the
basis of Witness’ statements. The police said its claim that the Gujarat
blasts was the work of the Indian Mujahideen, a reincarnation of the
Student’s Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) was proven by Witness’
statements. It is on the basis of Witness’ statement that the police have
named the masterminds in the case – Mufti Abu Bashar and Sajid Mansuri.

At first, Witness is unwilling to talk. He is preparing for exams, he says.
He sees the lady accompanying me and asks her what she is doing with me. I
have smuggled myself in, wearing a head scarf, trying to pass off as one of
them. He lifts up the lady’s child in his arms and allows us in, looking
around to see if we have been spotted. After keeping in him detention for
twelve days and beating the confession out of him, the police now keep an
eye on their ‘approver’.
 [image: image]  Casualties of the Ahmedabad bomb blasts wait for treatment
at a hospital  *Photo: *SHAILENDRA PANDEY

Witness bursts into tears when I ask him questions. “Don’t make me narrate
everything again. My family and I have gone through hell all because of me.
It was all a big mistake,” he says between sobs.

His mother, an ailing lady in her late 50s enters. She wants to know if we
too are from the police. “How many questions do you want to ask him? He has
told you everything he knows. Now leave him alone!” she says. Witness ushers
her out and bolts the door.

“I wouldn’t be talking had it not been for this girl,” he says, gesturing at
the girl now sleeping snugly in her mother’s arms. “Her father is innocent,
ma’am. They are all innocent. If what I say to you can do anything, then
please get them freed. They are in jail for no fault of theirs.”

Witness was detained days after the blasts in Ahmedabad took place in July
last year. He was part of the plot until he learnt the targets included
hospitals and not those responsible for the 2002 Gujarat riots. Until he
learnt that they were not going to kill the ‘Bajrangis’ or those who had
admitted to having slit open the stomachs of pregnant women during the
riots.
 [image: image]  alleged SIMI operatives being paraded before the media by
the police  *Photo:* INDIAN EXPRESS

THEY (THE conspirators) had told us that they wanted to avenge the
atrocities committed against Muslims but what they were doing would also
kill Muslims,” says Witness. Although he was never told who the top bosses
were, he carried out the orders of his fellow plotters.

Witness also reveals troubling truths – he denies ever being a part of SIMI.
He denies the involvement of SIMI in the plot and says he knows the Indian
Mujahideen only as a phrase seen in newspapers. Witness says he was tortured
into implicating the men he met during Friday prayers. “The police forced me
to name those they had arrested.” Our long conversation was occasionally
interrupted by his mother’s knocks on the door. She was both scared and
curious but Witness wanted to talk. He wanted to unburden himself and reveal
everything; all in the hope that it would help free those innocent people
languishing in jail.
 *THE WITNESS* was party to the plot. He knew the bicycles were being
bought. He knew the low-intensity explosive devices were being assembled but
he backed out at the last minute, just before 6.45pm

The words came in a torrent and he spoke, initially without much prodding.
“My friend Alamzeb Afridi [absconding, involved along with Witness in the
blasts] introduced me to Yakub bhai [earlier detained, now a witness], Arif
Kagzi, Yunus Mansuri and Sajid Mansuri [all accused in the July 2008
Ahmedabad blasts and all ex-SIMI members who spoke to TEHELKA in Sabarmati
jail]. They told me that they used to be SIMI members. I knew Alamzeb from
college. We used to meet in the evenings for religious discourses. We would
discuss the Quran and often attended various programs at Yaqub
*bhai’s*place. These guys would only teach us about the
* hadees* [the Prophet’s statements and actions] and would tell us about the
life of the Prophet. I was told that after SIMI was banned, they would hold
educational programmes to explain the true meaning of Islam to youngsters
who were disillusioned. People like Abdul Subhan Qureishi [one of the
masterminds of the plot, now absconding] and Safdar Nagori [General
Secretary, SIMI] used to come there. I was told that Subhan worked with
Wipro and that he had been absconding ever since his name came up connection
with the July 2006 Mumbai train blasts. He said that he was not involved in
the blasts. He said that the group hated the hardliners and wanted to work
against the propaganda put out by the VHP and the RSS. This was in 2007.

In the meetings we were told how Muslims were being tortured in Afghanistan,
America and Palestine. Subhan Qureishi used to tell us that these were the
real people who were against Islam. Of all the people who attended, Abu
Bashar Siddiqui was perhaps the most reserved of all. He had tremendous
knowledge about the Quran and the *hadees* and used to speak about the true
essence of Islam. Those meetings were not conspiracy sessions. In them, no
one ever spoke about the plot. Subhan used to bring Abu Bashar Siddiqui for
the religious gatherings and it was very clear that he did not discuss
anything else with him.

There was an annual meeting of SIMI every year. In 2007, it took place in
Indore. They just wanted the ban on SIMI to be lifted. It was there that
Safdar Nagori and others were arrested. Subhan and Qayamuddin Kapadia
[recently arrested, named by Witness as being involved in the blasts] were
also to reach there but they said they had missed their train. They returned
to Ahmedabad two weeks later. Alamzeb, Mujeeb [another ex-SIMI member, now
in jail], Tauseef [a localite accused in the case, now in jail] and I had
continued to meet after namaz.
 [image: image]  *Chain of Evidence* SIMI leader Safdar Nagori after being
arrested from a house in Indore’s Manikbag locality  *Photo:* P NAVEEN

After the Indore arrests of SIMI cadres, Subhan Qureishi met Mujeeb,
Alamzeb, and me and told us that we had to do something to avenge the
Gujarat riots. Subhan first approached the SIMI guys. They told him outright
that they did not wish to be a part of anything and that they were
struggling to lead a normal life as had been tortured enough by the Gujarat
police for being SIMI members. These people could not even carry on their
normal jobs. Qayamuddin was also absconding then as the police was after
him. The first time Subhan and Qayamuddin met us was at a shop at the Dani
Limda area in Ahmedabad. We were told not to involve the SIMI people and
also to take in new people with no records. Arif and the others told Subhan
not to do anything destructive.

SUBHAN THEN gave us Rs 3,000 to enrol in some physical fitness courses like
swimming. We did that for a month. Only the three of us — Mujeeb, Alamzeb
and me — knew about it. Qayamuddin was our leader. We were asked to stay
away from SIMI members, as they would have stopped us. We did not meet any
SIMI member. Subhan and Qayamuddin had tried to gauge who could do the task
and had told just the three of us.

Qayamuddin got a CD just a month before the blasts. The CD was shown to
Mufti Abu Bashar as he was the only one who could understand Arabic. A few
days afterwards, Qayamuddin came to us and told us that some boys had come
from outside who were well trained and who wanted to do something. None of
us knew them. Nobody knew them. We were only given orders. When Qayamuddin
mentioned bombs, I said that the original plan was to attack the VHP
headquarters and not kill common people. He retorted that even if we didn’t
help them, the boys from outside would set off the bombs. He said they
wouldn’t wait for us and told us that if we helped them, they would be able
to place the explosives at the right places and would be able to take
revenge against the right people.
 *‘WE SAW *what happened in Godhra. It was wrong. We saw the VHP men talking
about slitting the stomachs of pregnant women. We just wanted to show them
how it feels when your own are killed,’ he says

We then agreed to the plan. Qayamuddin then gave us Rs 5,000 and asked us to
buy 10 cycles. At that time my exams were on. Alamzeb bought six bicycles
and gave me three. I parked them at places where no one would touch them and
Alamzeb parked his cycles too. Later, Qayamuddin called us. We asked him
about the bombs and how many casualties they would cause. Initially, they
said the bombs would be kept in buses and we were asked to identify the
right buses. We then confronted them, saying that people in buses were not
our targets. We said we should set off the bombs in places were Hindus
dominate and where it is difficult for Muslims even to enter. The places
they had chosen were areas like Paldi, which also had a large number of
Muslims.

The targets were then changed to areas like Maninagar and Satellite.
Qayamuddin later took me with him and showed me places like Naroda [one of
the worst hit during the Gujarat 2002 riots] and told me that these were the
places were we needed to plant the bombs. I was told to just look at the
areas. After we came back from Naroda, we met Mujeeb who was waiting for us
near the Vadodara express highway. Qayamuddin then told me that I did not
appreciate what we were doing and that I was too busy with college. I
retorted that that was because they were not keeping their promise to attack
the VHP. I told them I did not want to be a part of the plan.
 [image: image]  Abdul Subhan Qureishi, named by the police and by Witness
as one of the masterminds of the Ahmedabad blasts

*Did you know Sadiq Israr Ahmed? [in custody with the Mumbai police, named
as one of the IM masterminds and accused in the Ahmedabad blasts. Recently
cleared by a Mumbai court of involvement in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts]
Was he ever a part of the plan?*
No. I’ve never heard of him. If the SIMI members found out about our plan,
they would never have let us go ahead with it.

*Did any of you go to Pakistan or any other country?*
No, never. The names I have read in the chargesheet are just names to us. We
only heard about them on TV. SIMI was just a small organisation. Poor Abu
Bashar had no idea what was going on. Whenever he was around, we never spoke
about the plot. In fact we were told never to discuss anything with SIMI.
The only reason Abu Bashar has been implicated in the case is because he
used to attend *tableeghi jamaats *[religious conferences] across the
country and was also very keen that the ban on SIMI be lifted. He was
perhaps the only one who would speak to us about the true meaning of Islam.

After I said I wouldn’t be a part of the plot, I was removed from the group.
It was only on the morning of the blasts when Alamzeb came in to get the
cycles that I felt something was about to happen. I told him where the
bicycles were parked and then went to college. It was only after I returned
that I realised that the blasts had taken place. After the blasts, the group
avoided me. Even when they met me they asked me not to discuss the plot.

The only fault of Zahid Sheikh [a friend of Witness arrested by the police
and accused in the case. Also accused of attending terror camps in
Ahmedabad] and others who have been arrested is that someone told him that
the blasts were done by this group. I met Alamzeb five days after the blasts
and asked him about the boys from outside. Were they like us – kurta-pyjama
clad and bearded? Alamzeb replied that on the contrary, they didn’t look
like us. They were welleducated, wore jeans and T-shirts and smoked a lot.
 *THE INDIAN MUJAHIDEEN* is a phrase he only knows from the newspapers. He
also denies any SIMI role in the Gujarat blasts. ‘If SIMI members knew the
plan, they would’ve never let us go ahead with it,’ he says

*Did you know their identity?*
No ma’am. They never divulged these things. Alamzeb only told me that they
had rented a room and that they were extremely well-trained in making bombs.
They were not like one of us. There was another person who kept the bombs.
There is a stark difference between us and those people. They were like none
of our group or any SIMI members we had seen.

*You have been named a witness in the case. Your statement says that those
named in the chargesheet including Arif, Tauseef, Zahid and the others
played an active part in the blasts. Why did you say that? Did they torture
you mentally or physically?*
They first took me to Ashish Bhatia’s office [Joint Commissioner of Police
heading the investigations]. They strip you completely. One person sits on
one leg and another on the other. They kept me twisted over in a 180 degree
position. Like they did to poor Zahid. They trick you. They told him that
everyone had named him and that he should take responsibility for the
blasts. They did the same to me. I could not stand the pain, so I did what
they told me to.

*Are those named in the chargesheet involved?*
How could they be? We knew exactly what was happening from Day One. The
people named had no inkling. Naved Kadri, one of them, is from Juhapura,
like me. He would get frightened at the thought of blood. His only fault was
that he was a friend from Juhapura. He has been chargesheeted as a
conspirator. I have seen him being tortured in custody. He is still inside.
 [image: image]  Mufti Abu Bashar, accused by the police of involvement in
the blasts but cleared of any involvement in them by Witness

*Do you see the role of a SIMI insider?
* The third party with the bombs only came into the picture after the SIMI
guys were all inside. How could they do it?

*Did you know about the Indian Mujahideen?
* No. SIMI was banned in 2001. All of them — Safdar Nagori and the rest —
were still free. If they had actually received training they would have done
the blasts way back. Why would they wait? The blasts happened only after
they were arrested. In my lie detector test, they asked me about the IM but
I’ve seen this term only in the newspapers.

*But you were still a part of the plot. Why did you join it?
* You know what happened in Gujarat. What happened in Godhra was wrong. The
guilty should have been punished. But you know what they did to us. We saw
the videos of Babu Bajrangi on TV and the VHP guys talking about slitting
the stomachs of pregnant women. Politicians knew that what happened was
wrong. The Hindus here knew exactly that it was wrong but they still support
Narendra Modi. We just wanted to show them how it feels when your own people
are killed.

*You were a part of the plot till almost a day before the blasts and you
have been let off. But others who don’t even know about the blasts are in
jail. Why did this happen?*
Ma’am, I only know how the plan was hatched and that the cycles were bought.
The policemen told me that Yunus Mansuri said I had planted the bomb. I said
that in that case, call him; I will face him because I know I have not done
so. They told me this before they had even arrested him. Two days later,
they arrested him, saying that I had named him. I told them whatever I knew.
I know that uninvolved people were suffering, and I told the crime branch
that those people were innocent. But they implicated them. There is no such
thing as justice. Sub Inspector Bharvad took me out in a vehicle and said,
as he took out his revolver, “You bastard, run! We don’t want to investigate
you people. Run!” He later took me to the police station and I was tortured.
They abused Muslims and kept on torturing me. I knew that I could not take
it anymore and I gave in. I said whatever they told me to. They made me say
that I had planted the bombs. When I met Police Inspector Tarun Barot, I
told him I couldn’t take the pain. I said I would kill myself. Barot told
me, “Don’t worry, I have spoken to Ashish Bhatia. We will make you a witness
in the case.” I told them the truth so they would free the innocents, but
they made a false statement from what I said. They warned me against
speakingout and told me that they could implicate me and that there was
scope for supplementary chargesheets. I am speaking out now because I am
disgusted, because innocent God-fearing men are in jail.
 ‘THE POLICE tortured me. They undressed me and kept me in an 180 degree
position. I could not take the pain so I did what they told me. They
forcefully made me name those they have arrested,’ he says

*How can you be so sure that the others were not involved?*
It was all done secretly. We were told strictly to keep away from SIMI men
like Arif, Sajid and the rest. If Mufti Abu Bashar and the others knew about
it wouldn’t they have spoken to us about it? Only Subhan, Qayamuddin,
Alamzeb and I knew about the plot.

*What about Abu Bashar?
* Subhan brought Abu Basher into the group in Ahmedabad only for his
knowledge of Arabic and the *hadees.* They said Abu Bashar had asked us to
wage *jihad,* which is absolutely false. Subhan categorically asked us to
keep our mouths shut in front of Abu Bashar because he was quite educated
and was a God-fearing man. Subhan and Qayamuddin were always on the run.
They kept saying that they need people to help carry out attacks.

*Did the Gujarat Police ever lure you?*
They keep telling me, “Listen to us. You are a state witness. We will take
care of you. Just don’t talk about this outside.”

*When was the last time you met Subhan Qureishi?*
Around 30 days before the blasts.
 ‘QAYAMUDDIN showed me places like Naroda [one of the worst hit during the
Gujarat 2002 riots] and said that these were the places where we needed to
plant bombs,’ says the police’s star witness

Unknown to the police, Witness has given us a full account in which he also
damns himself. We also spoke to police officers without letting them know
that we had had a long meeting with their star witness. The police maintain
that they have a strong case. Says Joint Commissioner of Police Abhay
Chudasama who is in charge of the case, “Even a child would know how
important a witness would be in this case. And we do believe that whatever
statements we have got from them and from the accused corroborate the
evidence and will be enough to strengthen our case and nail the accused”.

When asked specifically why the alleged mastermind in the case would keep
changing and asked about Abu Bashar Siddiqui, Sajid Mansuri and Yunus
Mansuri [whose involvement in the case Witness has denied], Chudasama
maintained that they were the key conspirators. While Chudasama was not as
forthcoming when it came to the status of the witnesses, Ashish Bhatia, IG,
Law and Order, who was the Joint Commissioner of Police in charge of the
investigations maintained that some people who had backed out of committing
the blasts were made witnesses and that their confessions would be crucial.
When asked if the statements were voluntary, Bhatia said that all the
statements were voluntary and in case the witnesses retracted their
statements — even though they were recorded before a magistrate and
therefore couldn’t be retracted —the Police would have the right to file a
case against them. When asked if the witnesses had been tortured, both
Chudasama and Bhatia replied that the matter was *sub judice.*

One year into the blasts, the trial is still to begin. Perhaps in the case
of the Ahmedabad blasts there may not be no such thing called justice.

*WRITER’S EMAIL*
rana.ayyub at gmail.com

 *From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 6, Issue 31, Dated August 08, 2009*




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