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Mumbai blast probe: Key conspirator received ammunition training in Pakistan
 MUMBAI: Indian police on Monday formally confirmed having arrested a Mumbai-based doctor on suspicion of involvement in this months train blasts, saying that he had received explosives training in Pakistan. Tanvir Ansari, a doctor of traditional Indian (Unani) medicine, was picked up by the crime branch of the citys police late on Saturday, Police Inspector Sunil Deshmukh said. We have arrested him on suspicion, for further interrogation. He has undergone training in Pakistan. Ansari was formally placed under house arrest late on Sunday. Handcuffed and with a black hood covering his face, Ansari was escorted by police on Monday through a crowd of television reporters to a court in central Mumbai to hear the 11 charges against him, including murder and violation of laws relating to explosives and the railways. The judge remanded Ansari to police custody until August 4. Police last week arrested three men, all Indian Muslims, for their alleged role in the series of bombings that ripped through first-class carriages of Mumbais commuter trains and platforms, killing 200 people. The chief of Mumbais anti-terrorism squad said the authorities believed that Ansari had gone to Pakistan in 2004, where he learned how to make bombs as well as how to use arms and ammunition. He is one of the key conspirators and we are assessing his role, KP Raghuvanshi told reporters, hinting that information obtained from the four suspects could result in more arrests in the coming days. We dont want to hurry up the process of arresting people since it is a sensitive case, he added. Ansari was among five people picked up for questioning on Saturday. According to media reports over the weekend, police in other cities in the western state of Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital, have detained several more suspects, including a software engineer in the southern city of Bangalore. Investigators believe that Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Pakistans military spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, were behind the attacks. Rejecting the charges as unsubstantiated, Islamabad offered to help New Delhi in the investigation. India rebuffed the offer. Posted by: Fred 2006-07-25 |
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