I’m going to die: Victim describes the knife rampage by a Mumbai guy who returned to the US

In his police complaint, the security guard who was stabbed by a lone attacker in the early hours of April 27 in Mumbai’s Mira Road district described how the attacker targeted him and his supervisor after inquiring about their religious beliefs.

Within 1.5 hours of the attack, Jaib Zubair Ansari, a 31-year-old man, was taken into custody. Sen had minor back injuries, but Mishra had severe injuries, including damage to his intestines. Around 8 p.m. on April 26, the guard, Subrato Sen, and his coworkers, including supervisor Rajeshwar Mishra and other security personnel, reported for duty at an under-construction building. He was stationed in an area of the property that faced the main road.

At around 3 am, the assailant approached him and asked if there was a mosque nearby. “I told him there was one ahead on the right, but I did not know its name,” the guard said in his statement. The man then asked about his religion. “He asked me if I was a Hindu. I said yes,” he told police, adding that the man walked away but remained in the vicinity.

The guard saw the same person again around an hour later when he had momentarily gone outside to a neighboring tea stall. Around 4:30 in the morning, he went back to his post when the man came up to him once more, grabbed his arm, and asked him the same question regarding his religion. “Before I could react, he attacked me with a knife. As I tried to dodge, I was stabbed in the back,” he said.

Sen managed to free himself and ran towards Mishra’s cabin to seek help. However, the attacker followed him inside. “He confronted the supervisor and asked him about his religion, telling him to recite the Kalma. When he could not, the attacker stabbed him as well,” he stated.

Sen ran to the back of the building and hid out of fear for his life. When he called Mishra a few minutes later, she was in tears and thought he was going to die. Later, Sen found additional people at the cabin and discovered that the supervisor had been sent to the hospital. A neighborhood person then escorted him to the police station. Before filing a formal complaint, police sent him to a government hospital for treatment.

Investigators recognized Ansari using local CCTV footage and followed him to his rented home on Mira Road East in the Naya Nagar neighborhood. Sen’s accusation led to the filing of a case at the Naya Nagar Police Station.

Sources claim that Ansari studied in the US until 2019, at which point she returned to India and rented a room on Mira Road by herself. Additionally, investigators discovered that he was allegedly asked to leave the rented apartment by May 5 by his landlord. Ansari taught math and chemistry at a coaching center till a few months ago.

Ansari has been remanded to the Anti-Terrorism Squad’s custody by a local court until May 4, during which time the agency will conduct additional investigation into the case. Additionally, the top anti-terror agency would ascertain whether there were any broader ideological or extremist connections to the act.