Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has called for the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to probe Monday’s stabbing of two security guards in Thane district’s Mira Road. Fadnavis told reporters Tuesday that agencies need to probe if the accused has links with more radicalised persons.
The incident, suspected to be a ‘lone wolf attack’, is being probed by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS). A lone wolf attack is a terrorist attack executed by an individual on his/her own, without help or instigation by any terrorist organisation.
According to the First Information Report (FIR) filed at the Naya Nagar Police Station, a copy of which is with ThePrint, 31-year-old Zaib Zubair Ansari attacked two security guards—Subroto Ramesh Sen and his supervisor, Rajkumar Mishra—at an under-construction building called Asmita Grand Mansion behind the Wockhardt Hospital at 4.30am on Monday.
Ansari was picked up by the police and taken to the Naya Nagar Police Station a little over an hour after the attack, police sources told ThePrint. Surveillance footage of the incident helped track Ansari.
The FIR says that Ansari first asked Sen at the gate for directions to the nearest mosque, and later asked for the name of the mosque. When Sen said he did not know, Ansari asked if he was a Hindu. Moments later he returned and stabbed the Sen with a knife. It also says, after Sen fled the scene, Ansari walked into Mishra’s cabin and stabbed him too. One of the two guards told the police that the accused forced him to recite the Kalma, the foundational declaration of Islam.
One police officer told ThePrint, “The guards were rushed to the hospital where treatment began immediately. Mishra was critical for over a day with blood loss; the other guard (Sen) is also receiving treatment, but is not critical.”
The officer said, “Alerting the ATS is standard procedure, and they took over the case after our investigation.”
After the stabbing, the police searched Ansari’s flat in Smita Regency Building, about 200 m from the attack location, in Naya Nagar. They recovered notes written in Ansari’s hand where he has allegedly expressed his desire to join the Islamic State, a Salafi jihadi outfit recognized as a terrorist organisation by the United Nations and several countries.
“Ansari is a science graduate and had lived in the United States with his parents for many years. He returned to Mumbai in 2020, after his work permit expired,” the officer added.
At an event in Solapur on Tuesday, Fadnavis said, “His family lives abroad, in America. He has also lived abroad for many years. After returning, he first lived in Kurla and then moved to Naya Nagar (Mira Road). The probe will investigate who is behind him, who all are linked to him.”
What FIR says
On Monday, Subroto Sen filed an FIR after his medical treatment at a hospital in Bhayandar. In the FIR, he said, “An unknown person came near me and asked, ‘Is there a mosque up ahead?’ I replied, ‘Yes there is a mosque on the left up ahead.’ He then asked me ‘What is the name of the mosque?’ To which I said, ‘I don’t know.’ He then asked, ‘Are you Hindu?’ I said yes. After that, this person left. However, I had seen him roaming around the area.”
At 4 am, Sen left his station for a cup of tea at a local stall nearby and returned at 4.30 am. “At that time, the same person came behind me and asked again, “Are you Hindu?” and caught hold of my right hand and tried to stab me with a sharp weapon. While I was trying to free myself, he held me and stabbed me in the back. I somehow freed myself and immediately ran towards the supervisor’s cabin,” Sen said in the FIR.
Even as Sen was telling Mishra of the incident, Ansari walked into the cabin. “He also started asking supervisor Mishra, ‘Are you Hindu? If not, recite the Kalma,’ and when he could not recite the Kalma, he stabbed Mishra too. I got scared and managed to escape from there and hid in the parking area. After a few minutes, when there was no movement around, I called Mishra. At that time, Mishra, who was crying, said: ‘I will die. I will die’.”
When Sen went back into the cabin, he found that Hari Singh who was stationed at the main gate that night had also arrived. “I went again to the supervisor’s cabin, where Hari Singh was also present. At that time, Hari Singh informed me that the same person who attacked me had also attacked Mishra after questioning him about his religion, and he had been taken to the hospital for treatment.”
The ATS took over the case on Monday and in a statement to ANI on Tuesday said: “Unable to find a job in the US, he (Ansari) returned to India and lived alone in Mira Road, providing online chemistry coaching. It is believed that during his isolation, the accused became radicalised through the Internet. Agencies are now examining the digital footprint of his mobile phone and laptop to determine if he was in direct contact with any handlers across the border.”
Calling it “a case of self-radicalisation”, Chief Minister Fadnavis said, “it looks like this person has been groomed by radicalisation as a result of attempts made through a lot of books, literature and the Internet. That’s why this seems to have been done with the intention of doing Jihad, or killing someone in the name of Jihad. He has been apprehended, now with the help of ATS and NIA, a probe into this radicalisation will be set up.”
The ATS press release on Tuesday also said that Ansari is currently booked under Sections 109 (attempt to murder), 118(2) (Grievous Hurt with Dangerous Weapon and 196(1) (Promoting Enmity) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) leader Sanjay Nirupam wrote on social media platform X, “Disturbing news is coming from Mira Road. Before shooting the security guard in Naya Nagar, the attacker had asked him to recite the Kalma. They were Hindu, so he attacked them. ATS has arrested the attacker. In the initial interrogation, he was found to be linked to terrorist organizations. The extent of his connections should be investigated. The repetition of the Pulwama incident must not be allowed (sic).”
(Edited by Tony Rai)