The city police are not willing to buy the reported statement of 26/11 handler Syed Zabiuddin alias Abu Jundal that the main accused in the December 2005 Indian Institute of Science attack — Abu Hamza alias Mohammed Ramdhan Mohammed Siddique — is dead. “The name of the IISc attacker as per our records is Abu Hamza alias Amir from Rawalpindi and not Mohammed Ramdhan. This has been verified along with sketches by Amir’s co-conspirator Sabauddin, who had lent logistic support and shelter to him for the IISc operation, and Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist from Pakistan involved in the 26/11 Mumbai attack.
“We will get more details on Amir once we get Jundal’s custody. We can’t accept his alleged statements on face value. They can be misleading and purposely given to divert attention. In 2009, there was news that Abu Hamza was killed in an encounter in Kashmir. After verification, we found that he was not the man wanted in the IISc case. There are too many Lashkar-e-Tayyaba terror suspects, who are using the alias of Abu Hamza. It is not easy to get to the man involved in the IISc attack,” said a senior police officer, who is investigating the IISc terror attack. In March this year, a Kashmiri suspect LeT militant Ehetesham was arrested by Delhi police and he had reportedly told them that Abu Hamza is recruiting cadres for LeT in Kashmir. Jundal told his interrogators that Abu Hamza alias Mohammed Ramdhan Mohammed Siddique died in 2009 of some mysterious illness and that he had even attended his funeral.