A suspected Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist, who was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh [Images] Special Task Force with road maps of major Mumbai landmarks in February last, was returned by the Maharashtra police to Uttar Pradesh, where he continues to be lodged in jail.
Mumbai cops, who then saw nothing incriminating about 26-year-old Fahim Ansari possessing road maps leading to key landmarks in India's financial capital, and a fake identity, are now on their way to UP to interrogate him.
"Strangely, the Mumbai police had returned Ansari when we sought to hand him over to them after we discovered Mumbai road maps highlighting places like CST railway station, Taj Hotel [Images] and state police headquarters, etc in his possession," UP STF chief and additional director general of police Brij Lal told rediff.com in Lucknow on Sunday.
"Now that several of the places marked in those roadmaps were targetted during the three-day terror attack on Mumbai, Ansari has turned quite valuable for the Mumbai cops who are coming to question him," he added.
He felt, "There was every possibility of Ansari's connection with those who carried out by the Mumbai carnage; we have already gathered sufficient evidence to establish his LeT links."
According to the UP officer, "Ansari had confessed that he had undergone two intensive training programmes under LeT in Pakistan, where he was taken from Dubai."
He said, "After joining a 21-day 'Daur-e-aam' training, he went in for a more intense 3-month 'Daur-e-khaas' programme under the LeT in Pakistan."
Originally a resident of Goregaon suburb in Mumbai, he returned to Lucknow only to acquire another name -- Sahil Pawaskar. Ansari used that name to hire a room in Mumbai as also to get admission in a local computer training institute in the vicinity of Bombay Stock Exchange building, he added.
Thereafter, he was camping in Uttar Pradesh when the UP STF nabbed him along with six others for their involvement in a daring armed attack on a Central Reserve Police Force camp in Rampur town in February last.