Two Indian doctors detained in connection with last weekÂ’s terrorist plots are distant cousins who studied medicine together in the southern Indian city of Bangalore and used to visit each otherÂ’s homes, The Times has learnt. Mohammed Haneef, the doctor detained in Australia, also left his mobile phoneÂ’s SIM card with Sabeel Ahmed, the physician detained in Liverpool, when he left Britain in 2006, according to relatives. Dr HaneefÂ’s younger brother, Mohammed Shoaib, told The Times that they were related to Dr Ahmed through their mother, who is the niece of Dr AhmedÂ’s father. The two men both began studying at the Ambedkar Medical College in 1998, although Dr Ahmed did not graduate until 2003, a year later than Dr Haneef, because he had to repeat a year.
Relatives said they used to visit each othersÂ’ homes in Bangalore occasionally, but denied that they became roommates after moving to Britain to work in the NHS. Of the family relationship between the doctors in Australia and Liverpool, Mr Shoaib said: "They were not that close. They never worked or lived together in the UK." However, other relatives said that Dr Haneef left his British mobile phoneÂ’s SIM card with Dr Ahmed when he left Britain last year to take a job at the Gold Coast Hospital in Queensland, Australia.