`Rahil Abdul Rehman Sheikh,' reads the text on the top of the dossier on India's most wanted terrorist — the man believed to be the principal executor of the Mumbai serial bombings, which claimed 200 lives. There is no photograph below it: for all of his adult life, Sheikh refused to have one taken, on the ground that graven images were forbidden by Islam. A picture is not the only thing we do not know about Sheikh's terror career. Since at least February, police in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Delhi have all been attempting to locate the man alleged to be responsible for the second-largest terror strike in Indian history. Indian communications intelligence personnel intercepted conversations between Sheikh and the Lashkar's overall military commander, Azam Cheema — but little else.
Operating under the direct command of a Dhaka-based Lashkar-e-Taiba commander code-named `Junaid' — about whom little is known other than that he is a Pakistani national — Sheikh's principal tasks were to funnel funds to field units, and ensure that fresh recruits could travel safely to training camps in Pakistan. He travelled frequently to Dhaka to meet Junaid.