Stabbing of Thane guards a ‘lone wolf’ attack: Police; self-radicalised, says CM Fadnavis | Mumbai News
IN WHAT the police are calling a “lone wolf attack”, a 31-year-old US-returned man was arrested for allegedly stabbing two security guards at an underconstruction site in Mira Road, a suburb north of Mumbai, early Monday, after asking them their religion.
Zaib Zubair Ansari was arrested by the Mira Road police Monday, with the case now transferred to the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) for further probe.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday called it a case of “self-radicalisation”.
Speaking to reporters in Solapur, Fadnavis said, “From the preliminary reports that have emerged, it is evident that it is a case of self-radicalisation. In such cases, individuals are often influenced by books, the Internet, and literature, and they want to participate in jihad by killing people from different religions.”
Ansari, whose parents and siblings live in the US, returned to the city in 2019 and has since been living in Mira Road.
The construction site where the alleged incident took place is close to his home. While a security supervisor has sustained serious injuries, the other guard was given treatment and discharged.
According to the complaint given by one of the guards, Subroto Sen, he and supervisor Rajkeshar Mishra, were on duty on the Asmita Grade Maison in the Naya Nagar area of Mira Road from Sunday night. Sen was standing on the roadside while Mishra was in his cabin. Sen told the police that around 3am on Monday, a man approached him and asked if there was a mosque ahead, and when Sen gave the man directions to the mosque, he asked him the name of the mosque. “I told him that I do not know the name. He asked me ‘Are you a Hindu?’ I told him yes. After that, the man left,” Sen’s statement to the police says.
Story continues below this ad
Sen went to have tea at a nearby stall around 4am, where he saw the same man again. Sen said that he returned to his duty around 4.30am, where the man again approached him and asked him if he was a Hindu. He said the man then grabbed his right hand and stabbed him with a knife on the hand. When he tried to dodge the attack, the knife hit him on the back, he told police.
Sen ran towards Mishra’s cabin, where the man followed him, police said. The man then asked the same question to the supervisor, and asked him to recite the Kalma (declaration of faith in Islam), the FIR said. When the supervisor could not recite it, he was also attacked by the man, the FIR said. Sen said he got scared and ran, and hid behind a building. When he came out after 5-7 minutes, he saw Mishra injured.
“Mishra was crying and telling me that I am going to die… one Nayab Shaikh, resident of a nearby building who was standing nearby, took me to the Naya Nagar police station where I informed the police about the attack,” the FIR said. Sen was later taken to a government hospital where he was given basic treatment. He was then brought to the police station where his statement was recorded.
Based on his statement, an FIR was registered at Naya Nagar police station against the then unidentified person under sections of attempt to murder, voluntarily causing hurt using dangerous weapons and promoting enmity between different religions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The police teams then tracked down Ansari from a nearby building and he was identified as the attacker by Sen, an officer said. Later in the day some religious groups protested in Mira Road area. By evening, the probe was handed over to the state Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS).
Story continues below this ad
Sources in the police said that they found “notes” from Ansari’s Mira Road residence with words such as “ISIS”, “lone wolf”, and “Jihad”. The officer said they found that Ansari had formatted his phone, which has now been seized. The case is being investigated as a “lone wolf attack”, the officer said, adding that they suspect that Ansari was radicalised online.
“We have seized computers and other devices from his residence and they should give us some clarity. We suspect most of these devices, like his phone, may have been formatted, so we will use forensic help to retrieve data,” the officer said.
Ansari’s parents, who were residents of Kurla, moved with him and their other children to the US over two decades ago and continue to live there. After a dispute with his family, Ansari returned to India in 2019 and has been living here since, sources said. His marriage with a US national ended in a divorce over two months ago. Ansari has been living on rent in a home in the Naya Nagar locality and gives tuitions online on science and maths, an official said.
“Prima facie, it appears that his father, who drives a cab in the US, sends him money to sustain himself,” an officer said.
Story continues below this ad
The Chief Minister said the family of the accused had lived in the US and that the individual himself lived there before moving to Kurla in Mumbai and then to Nayanagar in Thane’s Mira-Bhayandar. “The investigating agencies will get to the root of the matter and find out whether he operated alone or was backed by other radical agencies,” he added.
Ansari’s lawyer Abdul Wahab Khan said that the allegations against him of acting as a “lone wolf attacker” are not substantiated with any corroborative evidence. “These allegations are sufficient to call someone for an inquiry but are not corroborated and sufficient in a court of law. We sought on his behalf that the interrogation be carried out in a room where there is CCTV coverage and the recording be preserved. We also sought for him to be referred for medical examination,” Khan said. The magistrate court sent Ansari to the police custody until May 4.
