<b>Mumbai Blasts</b>: Key figures could have been held

Arrest of prime Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) suspects Rahil Sheikh in April and Zabiuddin Ansari in May during police raids could have probably averted the July 11 blasts here, police sources said.

Rahil and Zabiuddin are the prime suspects in the blasts case, and after the police made an unsuccessful attempt to nab them earlier this year, the duo are suspected to have moved to Pakistan from where they are co-ordinating LeT activities in Mumbai, informed sources said here today.

Rahil Sheikh was holed up in Mumbai when a joint operation of Mumbai and Delhi Police was launched to arrest him in April-May this year, sources said.

Being a prime suspect in the October 2005 Delhi serial blasts, Rahil was already wanted by the Delhi Police. With his LeT activities in Maharashtra coming under the scanner of the Anti Terrorism Squad, the two worked out a plan to nab him, sources said.

A secret operation was planed to nab Rahil who was then hiding at a place in central Mumbai. However, when the Delhi Police-ATS teams surrounded the house where he was holed up, Rahil apparently jumped from the first floor of his hideout and escaped, senior police officials said.

Similarly, when the ATS launched an operation to trace an arms cache moving near Aurangabad in Marathwada region in May this year, Zabiuddin Ansari alias Zaby was also accompanying the LeT operatives, sources said.

However, as the police vehicles gave the LeT vehicles a long chase, Zabiuddin allegedly escaped and in the days ahead moved to Pakistan via Bangladesh, sources said.

Top intelligence officials said the arrest of the two key LeT operatives would not only have helped police expose the LeT network in Mumbai and parts of the state but could have probably averted the July 11 serial train blasts.

Meanwhile, Faiyaz Kagazi - a close aid of Zabiuddin - whom the ATS was searching after the serial blasts is also suspected to have escaped to Pakistan, sources added.

It is suspected that after their escape to Pakistan, Rahil and Zabiuddin planned the July 11 blasts to avenge the crackdown by police on LeT members in Maharashtra.