A well-known Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) leader, Abdul Subhan Qureshi (alias Tauqeer), is now suspected to be the handler of Alam Jeb Afridi, who allegedly planted the low-intensity bomb in Church Street, Bengaluru.
“We are now almost sure that his handler was Tauqeer, the SIMI leader on the run since 2008,” a senior Intelligence source claimed. The source added that digital footprints and communication logs pointed towards Tauqeer being the handler.
Tauqeer was allegedly part of the 2008 Vagamon meeting of SIMI in Kerala, of which Alam Jeb Afridi was a part. Central Intelligence agencies suspect that Tauqeer, who has been lying low since 2008, may have come back piecing together a terror module of SIMI activists. His last known location is said to be Nepal, from where he is still believed to be operating. Tauqeer occupies the second place in the list of “most wanted” of NIA and the agency has announced a bounty of Rs. 4 lakh for any information leading to his arrest.
Agencies now suspect that Tauqeer may be working on multiple verticals of SIMI activists, and each may not even be aware of the other groups. Intelligence sources said that Tauqeer’s meeting with Abu Faizal, the leader of the Madhya Pradesh SIMI gang that fled from Khandwa prison in 2013, was well documented. It is the same SIMI gang that is now suspected to be behind Patna blasts 2013, Chennai, Roorkee blasts of 2014.
Tauqeer, hailing from Uttar Pradesh and a resident of Mumbai, was one of the leading SIMI leaders, who organised the 2001 meeting before the group was proscribed, it is believed.
He later became the founding-member of Indian Mujahideen (IM). However, he then grew apart from IM and has been untraceable since 2008, claimed Intelligence sources.
We are now almost sure that Alam Jeb Afridi’s handler was Tauqeer, who occupies second place in the list of ‘most wanted’ of NIASources
Tauqeer occupies second place on the list of National Investigation Agency’s ‘most wanted’
