Dr Tanvir Ansari, one of the main accused in the July 11 train blasts, has submitted an eight-page letter to the MCOCA court alleging that police officials investigating the case asked him to lie.

“Doctor, hamaare liye jhoot bol do” were the words used by ATS officers, according to Ansari. This is the first letter that one of the 13 people accused in the case has submitted to court.

Ansari was a practising Unani doctor and worked at Sabu Siddique general hospital in Bhendi Bazaar at the time of his arrest.

Excerpts from Ansari’s letter, which was written in English:

When they realised that their harassment didn’t affect me anymore, DCP (ATS) Naval Bajaj offered that if I co-operate, I would be paid and taken care of in the future. He added that if I refuse, they would torture and implicate my family in the blasts case.

Confrontation

I was taken to the ATS head office and produced before Commissioner A N Roy and Joint Commissioner (ATS) K P Raghuvanshi. They told me, “Doctor, we know you are innocent and have no connection with these blasts… But until we find the main accused, we’ll have to keep you in custody.”

Liar liar

On October 1, I was taken to Raghuvanshi’s office, where he agreed that I didn’t have anything to do with the blasts, but asked for my co-operation. He said he would pay for the damage done.

He then told me, “Doctor, hamaare liye jhoot bol do (Lie for us),” and proposed that I become an approver. I was forced to sign papers in the DCP Zone-1 (preventive) office, which I later came to know was my confession. When I was produced before the magistrate on October 9, I denied it.

The arrest

On July 20, crime branch unit 2 officers took me from my hospital for enquiry. They realised that the Kurla police had arrested me in September 2001 for connections with SIMI.

Fit case

I also told them that in May 2004, I had visited Iran. Then in Marathi, the officers told each other that he is the right candidate to be booked in the blasts case.

Puzzling papers

In the first remand sheet, police forced me to sign papers written in Hindi and Marathi, which they never allowed me to read. ATS gave me a few papers, asked me to memorise it, and told me that if I co-operated, I would be released soon.

Torture time

When I refused, they made me stand through the night, without allowing me any food. When I was exhausted, I memorised some of it and gave an audio-video recording of it.