BSE was real target

More than any other structure, the Bombay Stock Exchange [Images] topped the terrorists’s hitlist.
Revealing this and more, Fahim Ansari, now in the Mumbai [Images] police’s custody, said the Lashkar-e-Tayiba [Images] had to shelve its plan after the crackdown following the attack on the Central Reserve Police Force camp in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh [Images] last January.

The Lashkar wanted to bomb the BSE because it would cripple India’s financial capital.

Stressing that the planning was extensive, Ansari said his brief was to get acquire maximum information about several sites in India.

‘My brief was to get maps and information about several places, but the specific brief was to get the maximum data on the BSE,’ Ansari told his interrogators.

The bombs at the BSE were to be planted by Imran Shehzad, Ansari said, but he too was picked up by the police.

Explaining his journey into terrorism and the manner in which the Mumbai attacks were planned, Ansari said the main reason for him to take up jihad was because he hero worshipped Osama bin Laden [Images]. He disclosed he was awestruck by the manner in which the 9/11 attacks were carried out in the US.

Ansari said his first encounter with the Lashkar was in Dubai, where he then worked.

‘After 9/11, I spoke to several people about my plans to join a terror outfit. The Lashkar was looking out for men to undertake India operations,’ he told his interrogators.

Ansari then met a man named Abdul Azeez.

Azeez, sources told this correspondent, reported to Abu Cheema, and handled the recruitment of Indians who wanted to take up jihad.

After meeting Ansari in Dubai, Azeez returned to Pakistan and promised the Indian he would be taken to that country in a couple of days. Ansari told his interrogators he was taken to Pakistan through Iran.

Ansari said Lashkar terrorists Zaki-ur-Rehman Laqvi, Yusuf Muzzamil and Abu Cheema are in charge of India operations. Diabetes compelled Cheema to hand over charge to Abu Qama last year.

‘The first person I met in Pakistan was Muzzamil who operated under the code name Abu Harara,’ he said.

Abu Harara has been named by Faisal Sheikh, the man charge-sheeted in the July 11, 2006 attacks on trains in Mumbai.

‘I was trained to become a complete fidayeen and my knowledge of Mumbai was utilised to the fullest,’ Ansari told the Mumbai police.

He said the Lashkar made it compulsory for every would-be terrorist to undergo marine training. A majority of attacks, he was told, would be launched from the sea.

Pakistan naval personnel were actively involved in the marine training, he revealed. He was taught to use the geo-positioning system and the use of a compass so that navigation on the high seas was easier.

The marine training was imparted at the Lashkar headquarters in Murdike, Pakistan occupied Kashmir, and at the Mangla dam in Pakistan, Ansari added.

He was told that his role would not be limited to just being a fidayeen.

‘I was supposed to help in gathering intelligence and also conduct a survey of specific targets. This was when Muzzamil told me about the Mumbai attacks. The course in gathering intelligence was known as Daura-e-Ribat. I had to specialise in it for a month. Muzzamil showed me the Google maps application. I was initially asked to survey the BSE, the airport, offices of Reliance [Get Quote] and the Taj Mahal hotel [Images]. However, there was a change in plan. I did a survey of only those targets which were finally attacked,’ Ansari told his interrogators.

Ansari returned from Pakistan on a fake passport.

‘I first travelled to Nepal under the name Hammad and once I got clearance, I slipped into India. Abu Hamza (one of the main handlers for the Mumbai attacks) organised a driving licence for me in the name of Sahil Pavaskar which I used for identification purposes once I was in Mumbai,’ he disclosed.

‘In Mumbai, I spent most of my time photographing potential targets and collecting data. The main plan was to blow up the BSE. The Lashkar identified Imran Shehzad for the same. I enrolled myself as a student at a computer centre near the BSE so that I could collect information about the security around the BSE.’

The plan to bomb the BSE was shelved after Ansari and Shehzad were arrested after the Rampur attack.

Drawing inspiration from a CAT topper

It was a case of third time lucky for Varun Garg.

He appeared for the Common Admission Test, CAT, in 2005, 2007 and finally in 2008. CAT 2007 was a close miss with a score of 99.5 percentile without any calls from any of the Indian Institutes of Management. Reason: Verbal Ability, VA, cut off.

CAT 2008 was a different ball game. In 2008 Varun focused mainly on his core strengths unlike in 2007 when his attempt to crack CAT failed despite getting 99.5 percentile.

“This time, I had just checked my QA (quantitative analysis) and DI (data interpretation) scores after the CAT exam. I was pretty confident of getting 75 in QA and 79 in DI (which was still good enough to ensure a sectional score of 100 percentile). With a total of 154, I thought if I could just get over the line in VA, I was sure of calls from all the IIMs,” says Varun a computer science grad from IIT-Kanpur who currently works as a petroleum engineer at Shell India in Bengaluru.

“As it happened, I got 64 in VA and hence the magic score of four zeros (100.00 percentile),” he says.

For CAT 2007 Varun had studied on an average for two hours a day on weekdays and had joined two test series. “Considering I was working full time, this was quite an effort,” he adds. Also, he did considerably well in both the test series.

“Analysing the last two attempts,” he says, “there is a stark contrast in the strategy of the two tests.”

This is what went wrong with Varun’s effort in 2007 and what he wants CAT aspirants to keep in mind before attempting CAT 2009.
“That year (2007) I started with the VA section and then moved to QA and then to DI, which were my areas of strength. This did me in as I was not sure if I would clear the VA cut off even after spending some good 70 minutes in the section,” he explains why he did not scale the CAT ladder in 2007.

He successfully corrected that anomaly while appearing for CAT 2008. “This year, I started with QA and then DI, hence maximising my score by capitalising on my strengths.”

Herein lies Varun’s simple advice to crack those aspirants who would want to ace CAT: “Concentrate on your core strengths first. This will not only help you solve the sections quickly but help you gain some extra time to solve the section which you are weak in.”

“Interestingly, for CAT 2008, I just wrote a single test series and that was all of my preparation,” he says.

Teaching other students improve their skills helped him overcome his weaknesses, Varun adds.

“I have written the GMAT exam with a score of 760 (out of 800) and 6/6 in essays. I was also busy teaching some students for the GRE, GMAT and SAT exams. I guess that helped a bit to keep in touch with my calculations,” says the genial Agra native.

When the results for CAT 2008 were announced, he calmly checked his score late in the evening though the results were out early on January 9.

Once he informed his family in Agra, the scene was similar to the one in 2002 when he got an all India rank of 48 at the Indian Institute of Technology-Joint Entrance Exam. This helped him enroll in the bachelor’s programme at the department of computer science and engineering at IIT-Kanpur.

The phone has rung incessantly since with neighbours and family members, well-wishers and strangers calling up with their congratulations.
Gopal Kishan Agarwal, Varun’s father, has been a great source of inspiration for him. A businessman from Agra, he trades in generators.

“He has always dreamt that I will do him proud (aptly Varun’s caller tune has been Papa Kehte Hai Bada Naam Karega from Aamir Khan’s debut movie Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak for months now). My mother is a home maker and has always taken special care of me. I am the youngest amongst three siblings, the eldest being my sister. My brother is a software engineer and works in Motorola in Bangalore,” he says.

Having got calls from 6 IIMS (Bangalore, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Kozhikode and Indore), the focus right now is on the next round of GD/PI.

While he had not yet begun his preparations when rediff.com spoke to him, he says, “Having friends in various IIMs is always a help as I can contact them to know about their interview experience.”

“Right now,” says the CAT topper, “I have just won a battle; the war is still very much on.”