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From a software engineer to becoming India's ‘bin Laden': Tracing the life of IM co-founder Abdul Subhan Qureshi

IM co-founder Abdul Subhan Qureshi was arrested from Ghazipur in east Delhi on Saturday evening

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Delhi Police on Monday said it has arrested Abdul Subhan Qureshi, the co-founder of the Indian Mujahideen (IM), wanted for his role in 2008 Gujarat serial blasts. He was arrested from Ghazipur in east Delhi on Saturday evening, Delhi Police's Special Cell said. 

"The Special Cell had information that he would come to meet an old acquaintance in Ghazipur," said PS Kushwah, deputy commissioner of police (Special Cell).

Qureshi, 46, was being followed by teams of the Special Cell and other intelligence agencies.

Abdul Subhan Qureshi alias Tauqeer was a quiet but a good student in school. He studied at Antonio De Souza High School in Mumbai's Byculla and scored 76.6% in his secondary school examination in 1988, according to a Hindustan Times report. He obtained a diploma in industrial electronics from Bharatiya Vidyapeeth at Kharghar in 1995. After a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) course, he started working for Datamatics.

 

He joined the now banned Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) in 1998. In 2001, he left his job to pursue religious activities and went on to edit Islamic Voice – the mouthpiece of the SIMI. 

Over the years, he rose in ranks in the SIMI and was its topmost leader after the arrest of its general secretary Safdar Nagori from Madhya Pradesh’s Indore in March 2008.

But he came under intelligence agencies' radar when Indian Mujahideen operatives sent out emails claiming responsibility for the blasts in Uttar Pradesh, Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Delhi between 2007 and 2008.  They believed that the emails were sent by Qureshi. They, however, later found out that Mohammed Asghar Peerbhoy, a Pune-based engineer, had sent the emails. 

Qureshi's name had also cropped up in investigations into the serial blasts in Mumbai and Bangalore.

He is believed to be the main conspirator of Ahmedabad blasts, claimed by Indian Mujahideen. More than 50 persons were killed when 20 blasts ripped through Gujarat's main city Ahmedabad on July 26, 2008.

Meanwhile, Qureshi fled to Nepal and disappeared. He did not even get in touch with his parents who live in Mumbai’s Mira Road area.

 

His father said he has not been in contact with his son for 12 years. 

He had been living in Nepal under a fake identity and had gone to Saudi Arabia between 2015-2017. He also figured in the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) most-wanted list. According to NIA, Kasim, Zakir, Qab and Touqeer were some of the aliases he adopted over the years. 

NIA had announced a reward of Rs 4 lakh for any information leading to his arrest. In some quarters of intelligence circuits and media, he is also referred as 'India's Osama bin Laden' for successfully evading arrest for years. But as it happened with Osama, the long hand of law caught up with Abdul Subhan Qureshi too. 

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