‘Missing’ blast convict detained from Kanpur

Mumbai: A day after jumping parole and escaping from Mumbai, Dr Jalees Ansari, who allegedly orchestrated several serial bomb blasts in India and is being prosecuted in at least 50 criminal cases, was detained in Uttar Pradesh’s (UP) Kanpur on Friday.

The Uttar Pradesh’s Special Task Force (STF), acting on an alert from the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), apprehended the accused.

The officials said that Ansari, who was released on 21-day parole on December 26, 2019, was entrusted with marking his attendance between 10 am and noon every day at the Agripada police station. However, he went incommunicado on Thursday, soon after which a ‘red alert’ was issued across India to track down the accused.

The UP police was also informed about Ansari along with the possibility of him having fled to his native at Amar Dobha in UP. The Uttar Pradesh STF swung into action and all the police stations in Lucknow, Kanpur and the Government Railway Police (GRP) were brought under joint coordination.

“There was a substantial possibility of Ansari fleeing to Nepal via UP border and hence the Shashastra Seema Bal (SSB) posted on the Indo-Nepal border was also alerted about the absconder. All the vehicles passing between Mumbai and UP and across the border were also strictly checked,” stated a release issued by the UP police.

The UP police finally tracked down Ansari at Kanpur’s Faithful Ganj area where he was found in possession `47,780 in cash along with his Aadhar card and a pocket diary.

Ansari’s father was a labourer by profession. In 1972, Ansari completed his higher education and went on to study MBBS from Sion Hospital. In 1988, Azam Ghouri introduced him to his mentor Abdul Karim Tunda in Hyderabad. Tunda taught him the technique of bomb making upon which he improvised and ultimately excelled.

Ansari later underwent terror training in Pakistan and entered into India from the Bangladesh border in 1992, where he was also associated with the Harkt-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJI). Here, he was the training and technical expert of the Indian Mujahideen (IM), the post ban face of the notorious Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).

Throughout 1990’s, Ans-ari was part of at least 50 terror plots that unfolded in India, killing hundreds in 1993 serial blasts, Delhi Rajdhani Express blasts at Kota and Kanpur and others in which he is facing a life sentence.