Rajkot: A team of Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) is in the city to collect information
about hardcore criminals as part of their investigation into the July 13 serial bomb blasts in Mumbai, police sources said Friday.
The team, which arrived yesterday, met Crime Branch
officials and sought information on underworld dons Aftab
Ansari, Asif Raza Khan Pathan and Fazal Ur Rehman alias Fazlu
who were named over a decade ago in kidnapping of a leading
local jeweller`s son.
Asif was killed in a police encounter in late 1990s,
while his brother Amir is said to be one of the founding
members of Indian Mujahiddin (IM) that is suspected to be
involved in the last month`s blasts in which over two dozen
people were killed, the sources said.
Ansari was found guilty in the 2002 terror attack on
American Center in Kolkata and sentenced to death.
"The ATS team is here to collect information about
hardcore criminals and find out if they were anyway linked to
the Mumbai blasts," a Crime Branch official said.
Maharashtra ATS had late last month said terrorists
responsible for the terror attack on India`s financial capital
could have strong links with Gujarat and Kolkata. Maharashtra
and Gujarat ATS had shared information as part of
investigations into the bombings.
PTI
