By IANS,
Mumbai : Abdul Subhan Qureishi alias Tauqir, the absconding alleged mastermind behind the serial blasts in Ahmedabad and New Delhi, is innocent, his mother Zubeida Qureshi has maintained, adding that he should be punished if found guilty.
“I have not seen or met him for the past nearly eight years. He could not have done such a thing. But if he is guilty, he must be punished,” she declared at a press conference here Wednesday afternoon. She also urged him to come out of hiding and face trial.
Emerging from her Mira Road residence for the first time since Tauqir’s name cropped up as the alleged mastermind behind the Ahmedabad serial blasts of July 26 that claimed 57 lives and the New Delhi serial bombings Saturday which left 24 dead, she said: “He should be hanged publicly if found guilty by the court.”
Zubeida Qureshi at Mumbai press conference [Photo-Hindu]
Zubeida, along with representatives of at least 20 Muslim social organisations and Muslim clerics, condemned the terror attacks carried out by the Indian Mujahideen in the two cities.
Investigators suspect Tauqir, a software professional, was behind the threat emails sent in the name of Indian Mujahideen minutes before the Ahmedabad blasts and soon after the first bombing in Delhi.
However, she accused the media of associating her son’s name with the blasts. “We have a respectable background and have brought up our children with good values. They cannot do anything like this, but if proved guilty, he should get the strictest possible punishment,” she said in an emotionally charged voice.
Zubeida, clad in a black burqa, said that like any other citizen of India, her family too condemned the terrorist attacks.
“Yet, I firmly believe that my son is innocent. He is being framed. But at the same time, if the court finds him guilty of the offence, then he should be hanged in front of us. We shall welcome the decision,” Zubeida said with tearful eyes.
She had a word of advice for her son, too. “If he is innocent, he must come out and prove it. If he is guilty, he must confess the crime and surrender.”
Intervening, Tauqir’s lawyer Momin Solkar said the Qureishi family has no knowledge about his client’s alleged links with the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).
“Earlier, there was no ban on SIMI. After he left his Mira Road home in 2001, his family has not been in touch with him. We have no clues about his connections with any group or even with Bashir Nagori and Safdar Nagori, as the police have said. In fact, we have no idea whether he is alive or dead,” Solkar said.
Safdar Nagori, alias Salman Chand Mohammed Nagori, considered the architect of the Ahmedabad serial blasts, is in Gujarat police custody and had mentioned Tauqir’s name following a narco-analysis test.
Nagori, former head of SIMI in Madhya Pradesh, had also disclosed the names of leaders targeted by SIMI – Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s Pravin Togadia, Uttar Pradesh mafia don Munna Bajrangi, Gujarat riots accused Babu Bajrangi, and Mumbai’s former shootout specialist police official Daya Nayak.
About Tauqir’s alleged involvement in the Mumbai suburban trains serial blasts in July 2006, Solkar said his parents were interrogated soon after that incident. “But his involvement has not been established yet in that case nor has been declared a ‘wanted’ accused in the matter. It is only after the Ahmedabad blasts that his name as the prime accused emerged,” he explained.
Solkar said that after completing his certificate course in engineering from a Navi Mumbai college, Tauqir worked with infotech major Wipro for three years before joining Datamatics company in SEEPZ, Andheri, a suburb in east Mumbai. He worked there till 2000 and later he left his Mira Road flat where he lived with his wife and two daughter and a son.
Zubeida appealed to the investigating agencies for assistance as her son “never advocated fanatic ideologies nor was he involved in illegal activities”.