Pics by Rons Bantwal

Mumbai, Oct 9: Sayed Mosadiq Qadri, who was arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Wednesday after he faked his own killing in 2003, is believed to have occupied a key position in his terror module in the past seven years.

He is suspected to be an aide of Dr Jalees Ansari, who has been involved in carrying out around fifty terror attacks in India and is said to be close to the terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba. Officials believe Qadri’s module exploited the fact that he was believed to be dead and so would not come under the scanner of police agencies to its advantage.

Upon his arrest, he revealed that since 2003, he had been staying under a new identity in Jinsi Bazar, Mohalla Ganj, Golconda, Hyderabad.

A senior ATS officer said, “Qadri has been a terror suspect earlier. Now that it has come to light that he was staying in Hyderabad under a new name since 2003, it is suspected that he may have been elevated in rank in his terror module. He may have been active in planning and carrying out attacks.”

The ATS, which has booked him in an Arms Act case, has contacted the Andhra Pradesh police. An ATS team is also working on getting more information about the people Qadri was in contact with in the past seven years. Inquiries are being carried out at places in Maharashtra that he visited in this period.

According to intelligence reports, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala have been recruitment grounds for terror organisations. That may have been the reason why he was based in Hyderabad.

Qadri was earlier booked in seven cases of bomb blasts that happened in the city but was acquitted in all. He was wanted in five cases of robbery that he committed after being released in 1998.