Mumbai:
Mohammed Hanif Sayyed, sentenced to death on Thursday for carrying out the 2003 twin blasts in Mumbai at the instance of Laskhar-e-Toiba (LeT), was an auto rickshaw driver.
Hanif (46) left for Saudi Arabia in 1992 as a catering assistant on a salary of 700 Riyal. He worked there till 1994 and returned to Mumbai. Thereafter, he was plying a rented auto rickshaw till 2000.
He returned to Dubai where he stayed with six Pakistani nationals.
Hanif had confessed before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate R D Gate on September 26, 2003, that he and his two Indian friends - Nasir Ahmed and Jahid - used to go for prayers in a local mosque together. He also said they had decided to take revenge of the Gujarat carnage after being promised logistical support by the Pakistanis.
He later retracted from his confession in the POTA court, saying they decided to plant bombs in public transport services like buses, train and taxis.
Hanif further said that Nasir was the key conspirator, who was getting direct instructions from Pakistan and was also trained in assembling the explosives laden with RDX. Nasir was killed in a police encounter.
Hanif had also confessed that on August 16, 2003, the final plan was hatched to target Gateway of India and Mumbadevi temple.
"Gateway Mumbai ki naak hai, aur yahan bahut foreigner aatein hain, sab daar jayenge, Mumbadevi mein Gujarati bahut hai saabak sikhana hi padega (Gateway of India is Mumbai's pride and visited by many foreigners daily while many Gujaratis assemble at Mumbadevi so they can be taught a lesson)," Hanif quoted Nasir as saying.
On the day of the blasts, Hanif and his wife Fahmida reached Gateway of India at 10.30 am in a taxi that they had hired from Andheri station. However, at Gateway they directed the driver to wait in the parking lot till they came after going around Coloba area. The couple had planted the RDX in the boot of the car.
Ashrat Ansari (32), a resident of Juhu Galli, was in Surat in 2002 when the Godhra carnage and post riots occurred.
After coming back to Mumbai he met his childhood friend who has turned approver in the case and vented his frustration. The duo then decided to meet Nasir and hatched the conspiracy of carrying out blasts.
Ashrat hired a taxi and headed towards Zaveri Bazaar near the famous Mumbadevi temple. He told the driver to wait for him till he returned. There was a huge blast, which occurred just minutes after the Gateway of India blast.
In his confession before a magistrate, Ansari said he could not park the taxi right outside Mumbadevi temple as parking space was not available. The confession was later retracted in POTA court.