Author: Nikhil S Dixit
Publication: DNA (Daily News & Analysis)
Date: October 13, 2008
Mohammad Mansur Azhgar Peerbhoy, the software
engineer from Pune arrested in connection with the recent blasts, joined the
Indian Mujahideen (IM) after visiting the blast site at Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad
on May17, 2007.
An officer from the Mumbai crime branch said
Riyaz Bhatkal took Peerbhoy at the blast site and told him that such atrocities
against Muslims had become the norm. "That was the final nail in the
coffin for Peerbhoy and he decided to join IM," he said.
The police came to know of these details while
interrogating the arrested terror suspects. Though Peerbhoy was a religious
person, he was against the idea of Jihad, the officer said. "Peerbhoy
was educated and earning a very high salary. He was content with his life-style
and did not want to get into the Jihad movement," he said.
Joint commissioner of police and crime branch
chief Rakesh Maria said Peerbhoy had joined an Arabic learning class in Pune
in 2004. "In 2006, Asif Bashir Shaikh, who too was in the same class,
started befriending him," he said. Asif used to identify young people
as possible recruits for IM. Asif was arrested on September28 from Pune for
his role in planting bombs in Surat.
Asif tried to get Peerbhoy into the IM fold
in 2006. "There were times when Bhatkal himself would meet Peerbhoy.
At his first meeting with Peerbhoy, Bhatkal identified himself as a poor man
sleeping on railway platforms," the crime branch officer said.
Bhatkal wanted Peerbhoy to join Indian Mujahideen
because of his sound technical knowledge. He wanted to use the software engineer's
expertise for operations of the outfit. "Though Bhatkal showed him several
CDs containing footages of brutalities committed on Muslims across the world,
Peerbhoy was never influenced," the officer said. "But seeing the
dead and injured at the blast site at Mecca Masjid in May 2007, Peerbhoy decided
to join the outfit."