NEW DELHI: Rahil Sheikh, the alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba militant who managed to escape when a joint team of the Delhi and Mumbai police raided his residence in Mumbai this past May, is suspected to have fled to Pakistan. He is also suspected to be involved in the conspiracy behind the serial blasts on Mumbai trains this July. The Delhi police received inputs about Rahil's activities and whereabouts from Feroz Abdul Latif Ghaswala of Mahim in Mumbai, and his accomplice, Mohammad Ali Chippa of Ahmedabad, after they were arrested at Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station here in May. At their instance, the police also gunned down a Pakistani militant in an encounter.
Investigations revealed that Rahil, who is in his mid-twenties, lived with his mother, sister and two brothers in a flat on Grant Road in Mumbai. After his father passed away, Rahil started attending meetings called by extremist leaders, mostly those owing allegiance to Ahl-e-Hadis who encouraged young men to join ``jihad." Living away from home for long durations, he began working for LeT in 1999. He won the confidence of senior LeT militants and was entrusted with the task of recruiting young men for operations against India.