Agartala, July 16: Three days after 11 Thane-based youths were rounded up from a village near the Indo-Bangladesh border in Dhalai district for suspected fundamentalist activities, Tripura police today discovered the existence of a 12th member, who managed to escape.

Faisal Ansari, a member of the conservative Tablighi Jamaat, disappeared from Kamalpur subdivision on July 9, the detained members revealed during interrogation.

Ansari is reported to have sustained an injury during a motorbike accident and gone back for treatment. “Our hunch is that he sneaked across the border to Bangladesh to avoid detection, as Maharashtra police suspect that he is related to Zaibuddin Ansari, a prime accused in the Mumbai blast case,” a source said.

A team of the anti-terrorist squad of Maharashtra police will arrive here shortly to interrogate the 11 youths detained two days after the blast.