"Missing" 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts convict held in Kanpur

A convict in the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts case, Jalees Ansari, was arrested on Friday from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, a day after he went "missing" from Mumbai while on parole, an official said.

Ansari (68), a Mumbai resident who was serving a life term at Ajmer Central Jail in Rajasthan, was nabbed at Faithfulganj in Kanpur Nagar in a joint operation of Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Sqaud (ATS) and the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF), he said.

Ansari, known as 'Dr Bomb' for his suspected involvement in more than 52 blast cases across the country, went "missing" on early Thursday morning.

He was serving a life term in the 1993 serial bomb blasts in Mumbai-Delhi Rajdhani Express at Kota and Kanpur. He was on a 21-day parole and was expected to return to Ajmer Central Jail by Friday evening after end of the parole period, the official said.

Ansari, a resident of Mominpura in Agripada in central Mumbai, is an MBBS doctor by training.

While on parole, he was ordered to visit the Agripada police station everyday between 10.30 am and 12 pm to mark attendance, he said.

However, Ansari did not visit the police station on Thursday during the designated time, the official said.

In the afternoon, his 35-year-old son, Jaid Ansari, approached the police station with a complaint about his "missing" father, he said.

As per his complaint, Jalees Ansari woke up in the early hours and told his family members that he was going for 'namaz', but did not return home.

Based on the complaint, the Agripada Police registered a missing case, he said.

The Crime Branch of the Mumbai Police, the Maharashtra ATS and other agencies launched a massive manhunt for the terror convict, the official said, adding that a red alert was issued against him.

The Maharashtra ATS had on Thursday night expressed suspicion that he might have gone to his native village Amar Dova in Sant Kabir Nagar district in UP, the official added.

"As there were also chances of him fleeing to Nepal, the UP STF had also shared the information about Ansari to the police stations located along the Nepal border in Uttar Pradesh," he said.

"Trains coming from Mumbai to Lucknow were also on the radar of the agencies. On a specific tip-off, the UP STF laid a trap at Faithfulganj in Kanpur Nagar and arrested Ansari. Cash of Rs 47,780, his Aadhaar card, mobile phone and a pocket diary were seized from him," he said.

"During his interrogation by the UP Police today, it came to light that Ansari had fled to Pakistan around 1990 and returned to India via Bangladesh in 1992," the official said.

"In Pakistan, he had undergone training for terror activities and was in touch with the members of Harkat-ul- Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI)," the official said, adding that he was inspired by terrorist Abdul Karim Tunda.

Ansari was also responsible for Hyderabad, Malegaon, Pune, Ajmer bomb blast, he said.

He was allegedly connected with terror outfits like SIMI and Indian Mujahideen and taught their members how to make bombs, which earned him the sobriquet Dr Bomb, he said.

He had also been questioned by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2011 in connection with the 2008 bomb blast in Mumbai, the official said.