‘JuD recruiter Madni was not part of 7/11’

Jamatu-ud-Dawa's operative, Omar Madni (50) has been given a clean chit in the July 11, 2006 serial blasts in local train cases

Mateen Hafeez I TNN
Mumbai: Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative Omar Madni’s estranged brother, Haafiz Zubair, had sent Kamal Ansari, a suspect in the 2006 train blasts case, to Pakistan for terror training, the state anti-terrorism squad (ATS) has revealed. Madni, however, was not part of the terror strike.

This has emerged during Madni’s interrogation by the ATS in Kolkata. After the questioning, the government agency gave him a clean chit, saying he did not play any role in the terror strikes in Maharashtra. However, Zubair is one of the foreigners, wanted in the train blasts case.

Madni was arrested in June by the Delhi police who claimed that he had gone to that city to “recruit youngsters for an extremist outfit’’. From there, he was handed over to the Bihar police for another case following which, he was sent to the custody of the Kolkata police.

According to a source, Madni was in charge of recruiting unemployed and uneducated youth in Nepal for terror training in Pakistan. He climbed his way up to become a commercial HR manager for the Lahore-based Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD), but he was not part of the conspiracy of carrying out terror strike in Maharashtra, an official said.

Currently in the custody of Kolkata’s special task force (STF), Madni told the police that he had joined hands with the LeT to fight against the “atrocities on Muslims and later, became the main recruiter for LeT in Nepal. “I was paid Rs 40,000 in Nepalese currency for sending each recruit for terror training,’’ said Madni, who has been associated with the LeT over the past 11 years and has sent many boys, including Zubair, to Pakistan for training.

A dispute over money reportedly created a rift between Zubair and Madni, who has now parted ways.

FAMILY
Madni was born in a poor family at Madhubani in Bihar. His father, Shamsul Haque, was a teacher of Islamic studies at Jamia Salfiya in Banaras where Madni studied for 10 years till 1980. After that, he went to Saudi Arabia’s Madina University. He returned to Bihar and married Mumtaz Begum from West Bengal in 1984; They had a daughter. They separated later.

Later, the entire family shifted to Janakpur in Nepal where they started a school for Islamic studies, Jamia Salfiya. In 1993, he again married, this time, a Nepalese woman, Rahima Khatoon, and has four sons and a daughter with her.

LeT CONNECTION
The soft-spoken Madni was first impressed with LeT when he came across the outfit’s monthly magazine, Dawa. “I was LeT chief Haafiz Saeed’s fan and would go to Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh to collect zakat (2.5% of income’s share Muslim donate every year) to run Jamia Salfiya,’’ he said. In 1998, he met Saeed and was selected for a 21-day training in assembling and operating arms and bombs. “However, I could not go through the rigorous physical training and was asked to identify youth in Nepal and India for the outfit,’’ Madni told the police.

MAOIST LINK
Learning about Madni’s finacial transactions, Maoists in Nepal demanded a ransom of Rs 3 lakh, which after bargaining, was brought down to Rs 7,000. Madni later floated an air ticket firm, Nice Tours & Travels, whose name first came to the fore during the 7/11 probe.

ARREST
Madni was introduced to a Pakistani national, Ahmed, by an LeT operative, Feroz. Ahmed handed him over Indian fake currency with a face value of Rs 50,000 and that of US$ 8,000 to deliver in Delhi. He was promised commission, claimed the police. The Delhi police claimed that Madni was on a trip to India to recruit “young talent’’ when he was arrested on June 4 from near Qutub Minar.

The Times of India, July 13, 2009