Software engineer Mansoor Asghar Peerbhoy was introduced by Mohammad Arif Shaikh to Riyaz Bhatkal, founder of Indian Mujahideen

Software engineer Mansoor Asghar Peerbhoy (29), the man who used to earn Rs 19 lakh annually, proved a tough nut to crack for Indian Mujahideen founder Riyaz Bhatkal and his men.

According to police, instead of the normal six months to a year that the IM would take to brainwash a potential recruit, it took them three years to win over Peerbhoy.

But Peerbhoy proved the effort was worth it, as he was good at computers. He was later asked to take to hacking and paid Rs 70,000 to learn how to do it. He was always given the task of sending threat e-mails to the media minutes before the blasts.

How he joined

IM member Mohammad Arif Shaikh, who is now in the custody of the Mumbai police, was the one who introduced Peerbhoy to the outfit. Shaikh had met Peerbhoy at Arabic learning classes in Pune in 2004.  Peerbhoy wanted to learn Arabic for a better command over Urdu.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria said,  "Peerbhoy was introduced to Bhatkal and other IM members. Later, certain circumstances made Peerbhoy join the outfit in 2007. He was then sent for explosives' training in Karnataka."