Unani docs held for Malegaon conspiracy

Malegaon blast suspect, Dr Salman Farsi

Mateen Hafeez I TNN
Mumbai: Unani doctors S a l m a n Farsi (35) a n d F a r o g h Makhdomi (33), who were ar rested on Monday night in connection with the Malegaon blasts, had been arrested in 2003 for publishing and distributing pamphlets denouncing unIslamic rites, something that the police deemed as ‘provocative literature’. Apart from this, they have no police record. Farsi, though, was associated with a former SIMI member.

According to Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Krish Pal Raghuvanshi, the two doctors participated in a meeting held at the Malegaon godown of another blast accused, Shabbir Masiullah, in February where the blasts conspiracy was hatched.

The ATS said it seized large quantities of “seditious literature, notebooks containing cuttings of newspapers and code numbers’’ from Farsi’s clinic at Govandi slum in northeast Mumbai. The ATS had also conducted cotton swab tests on the clinic to ascertain if it had been used to store RDX. The two doctors could also be subjected to analysis and lie-detector tests.

According to his neighbours, Farsi was popular in Govandi slums in northeast Mumbai for treating the poor free of charge. Farsi’s nephew, Noor-ul-Huda, a labourer, was the first person to be booked in the Malegaon blasts case on October 30. In fact, he was present in the Malegaon sessions court premises when Farsi was produced there. A former SIMI member, Farsi was earlier arrested by the Govandi police in 2003 for publishing pamphlets denouncing unIslamic rituals.

Farsi was picked up on Monday night at 9.30 pm from his 8x6 ft clinic. His ground floor rented room is a lane away from the clinic. Farsi’s three children arrived from their grandparents’ home in Malegaon to Mumbai on Tuesday. His burka-clad wife Nafeesa, also a Unani doctor, runs her clinic from their residence. “I was shocked to learn that my husband was arrested. But I came because I have to send my children to school,’’ she said.

A Bachelor in Unani Medicine and Surgery (BUMS) from Tibbiya college in Malegaon in 1996, Farsi practised at Saleem Nagar in Malegaon and came to Mumbai for better prospects.

Farogh Makhdomi (33), the other person to be arrested on Monday, was picked up from Malegaon where he runs a clinic at Ramzanpura area. Both men have their roots in Malegaon.

Makhdomi’s father, Iqbal Makhdomi, a retired teacher, said his son was interrogated by the ATS on October 7 and allowed to leave. Unlike Farsi, he practised for four years in Madanpura, central Mumbai, and later shifted to Malegaon.

Makhdomi was arrested by the Ayesha Nagar police station in Malegaon in 2003 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, again for publishing pamphlets denouncing unIslamic rites. The trial is pending in this case. The ATS has seized Makhdomi’s mobile phone and has sent it for a call analysis.

The Times ofIndia, November 8, 2006