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Who really is UK's X'mas bomb plotter Gurukant Desai?

December 30, 2010 16:09 IST

Gurukant Desai, one of nine men who were arrested in the United Kingdom for plotting a Christmas bombing campaign, is a Muslim who changed his name to take on a Hindu one by deed poll, reports The Telegraph, London. However, the question still remains: why did Desai feel the need to change his name and that too to a Hindu one when he continued to follow Islam?

Twenty-eight-year-old Desai, along with the eight other men mostly of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin, planned to target the London Stock Exchange, Big Ben and Mayor Boris Johnson, in an attack almost identical to the Mumbai-serial bomb attacks in 1993.

Desai, a father of three children from Cardiff, faces serious terrorism charges along with his brother Abdul Malik Miah, Mohammed Moksudur Rahman Chowdhury, Shah Mohammed Lutfar Rahman and Omar Sharif Latif. The four other suspects from the Midlands were Nazam Hussain, Usman Khan,Mohibur Rahman, and Abul Bosher Mohammed Shahjahan.

All nine picked up in dawn raids by anti-terrorist police in London, Cardiff, Stoke-on-Trent and Birmingham on December 20 fall in the 19 to 28 age bracket.

While earlier reports suggested that Desai is of Indian-origin, it is now being said that they are Bangladeshis. However, there was no confirmation about their nationalities.