Mohammed Asif Ali, detained in connection with Dr Mohammed Haneef’s case, is believed to be trying to leave Australia as early as Thursday.

Asif Ali, also a doctor, was hoping to have the Australian Federal Police return his passport on Thursday in order to leave the country, his lawyer, Neil Lawler, said on Wednesday night, according to The Sydney Morning Herald report.

Asif Ali was suspended from the Gold Coast Hospital after federal police found that he had exaggerated his qualifications.

The development came amid suggestions from federal sources that the Queensland government would be happy to allow him to leave to avoid further embarrassment over his employment on the basis of suspect credentials.

However, Queensland government sources on Wednesday night denied knowledge of plans to allow Asif Ali to leave. He was a junior doctor who would have been employed in any event of the basis of his actual qualifications, they said.

The police reportedly ascertained that Asif Ali, who was suspended on full pay, had exaggerated his job experience in India by three months. He was detained temporarily when friend and colleague, Haneef, was held for questioning over alleged links to those accused of the attempted car-bombing of Glasgow Airport.

TIME  NEEDED FOR DISK ANALYSIS
Hyderabad, UNI: The Andhra Pradesh Forensic Science Laboratory (APFSL) would take more time to analyse hidden and deleted data in the hard disk seized from the failed Glasgow airport attack suspect Kafeel Ahmed’s house in Bangalore.

The 100 GB hard disk was brought to the APFSL laboratory on August 3 and the entire data was retrieved from it immediately. Sources here said that the APFSL would take another ten to 15 days to analyse the data due to non-availability of experts, who were on leave since last week. Initially, the sources said the data would be analysed in ten days. The Bangalore police, which was eagerly waiting for the analysed data, would have to wait for two more weeks. Kafeel had suffered 90 per cent burns after he rammed the jeep to the Glasgow airport on June 30.