According to British cops, he is Dhiren Barot to his father and Abu Musa al-Hindi to the Al Qaeda.

On Wednesday, India-born Dhiren and seven men of Pakistani origin, arrested in anti-terror raids and charged with plotting radioactive, chemical or explosives attacks, were remanded to police custody.

The eight, all holding British passport, appeared at Belmarsh Magistrates' Court. They will now appear at Old Bailey on August 25.

B Raman, an expert on Al Qaeda, told rediff.com: "This is the first and only instance of a Muslim person of Indian origin who is found to be associated with Al Qaeda. Otherwise Al Qaeda had met with no success. In this case too he is a convert."

The eight were arrested two weeks ago in countrywide raids conducted by police and intelligence agencies.

The men, charged with conspiring between January 1, 2000 and August 2004 under the Criminal Law Act, 1977, were dressed in casuals and stood silently in the dock as the charges were read out.

Dhiren was charged with possessing reconnaissance plans for the New York Stock Exchange, the International Monetary Fund, Citigroup building and the Prudential building and possessing notebooks containing information on explosives, poisons and chemicals.

Another man, Matthew Monks, 32, of Sudbury, London, held with the eight on August 3, appeared at the court charged with possession of a prohibited weapon, but was released on bail.

The other seven were Mohammed Naveed Bhatti, 24; Abdul Aziz Jalil, 31; Omar Abdul Rehman, 20; Junade Feroze, 28; Zia ul Haq, 25; Qaisar Shaffi, 25; and Nadeem Tarmohammed, 26.

According to information available with rediff.com, Dhiren is the son of Manubhai Barot and Bhartiyaben, who live with daughter Nita in a middle-class locality of Kingsbury in northwest London.

The Barot family migrated to Britain from Kenya in 1973. Since then they have suffered a lot of hardships.

While in East Africa Manubhai, who is suffering from serious heart problems nowadays, was a banker. In Britain he could not do any business and had to settle for a job.

Dhiren studied in a school in Kingsbury. He wanted to do a course in hotel management but could not get admission anywhere. Later, He tried becoming a travel agent.

According to a source in London, Manubhai had a major tiff with his son some years back.

When Dhiren was 20 he converted to Islam and later his parents drove him out of their lives.

He took part in militant campaigns in Jammu and Kashmir and is said to have been the main casing agent for Al Qaeda.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks, reportedly sent Dhiren to the United States several times in 2000 and 2001.

Dhiren has used a number of other aliases, including Issa al-Britani, Abu Eisa al-Hindi and Abu Musa al-Hindi.

According to reports, he travelled to Pakistan as recently as this year to meet Pakistani computer expert Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan to plot further attacks.

He also authored a book called The Army of Madinah in Kashmir, narrating his experience of his activities in Kashmir.

Officials in the US said they were considering filing criminal charges of their own against Dhiren and the other seven.

With inputs from Sheela Bhatt in New Delhi