In the narrow, crowded lanes of Khandari Bazaar, just a short walk from busy Hazratganj market in Lucknow, stands a narrow three-storey yellow building. Its wooden door, with an iron grille outside, is firmly shut.For the past three days, the unassuming address had been swarmed by media crews and police.On Friday, there are just two policemen, including a woman constable, standing guard outside. “The family rarely opens the gate or comes out to speak to anyone,” says a constable, dressed in plainclothes.This is where Shaheen Shahid Ansari (44) and her younger brother, Parvez Ansari (38), who were picked up in connection with an alleged “transnational and interstate” terror module busted last week by the J&K Police, lived and grew up. Shaheen has been arrested, while Parvez is detained.When The Indian Express knocked on the door, no one answered for several minutes. Eventually, Mohammad Shoaib (48), the siblings’ brother, agreed to talk.Speaking in a cautious voice from behind the grille, Shoaib said their father, Syed Ahmed (80), a retired government employee, spent his life wanting his children to become doctors.“I was never interested in medicine, so my father focused on Shaheen and Parvez. They were enrolled in coaching institutes to prepare for their exams, and eventually, they cleared them,” he said. “We never imagined things could take such a turn.”Story continues below this adShoaib is the eldest among the three siblings. He gives tuition classes.He said the security agencies questioned him and he told them what he knew. “Because of some personal differences, I have not been in contact with them (Shaheen and Parvez) since 2021,” Shoaib said.“They stopped coming to the house after that. I haven’t spoken to Shaheen in a long time, I honestly didn’t even know where she was living or working before the police arrested her.”According to the family, Shaheen finished her intermediate studies at Lalbagh Girls’ Inter College, just a short walk from their home, while Parvez went to Islamia Degree College.Story continues below this adShoaib said that after Shaheen got through college, she returned home briefly between academic commitments. Parvez, however, remained in Lucknow for several years, as he completed his MBBS from a local medical college. The duo also completed their post-graduation.Shoaib said Shaheen and Parvez also lived abroad for a few years: “Shaheen had travelled to Saudi Arabia around 2013-14, where she stayed for nearly two-and-a-half years, possibly for work opportunities. Parvez moved to the Maldives in 2016 for a job. Both returned to India later.”He said both had gotten married. Shaheen married Dr Jafar Hayat, an eye surgeon, in 2003. The couple had two sons. But in 2013, they parted ways through a mutual divorce. Dr Hayat is now posted at a government hospital in Kanpur.Parvez married a woman from Bihar. The family remembers the ceremony as a modest but happy occasion. They have a daughter. However, Shoaib said his younger brother soon drifted away from domestic life; he no longer lives with them. “I don’t know what went wrong between them,” he said.Story continues below this adAsked about his sister’s separation, Shoaib said there were several rumours going around — that his sister wanted to move to Australia or Europe for a better life. “Only my sister and her husband can confirm what really happened. The rest is just talk.”He also said that after their mother’s death in December 2017 — she had been battling diabetes for years — Shaheen began visiting the family home less and less. “She was close to our mother, Yasmeen Parveen,” Shoaib said.Shaheen is among the accused from the terror module busted this month; the others are Umar Nabi, who was driving the car that exploded at Red Fort; his colleague from Al Falah university, Dr Muzammil Ahmad Ganai; and Adeel Majeed Rather, who was employed at a private hospital in Saharanpur. Shaheen too worked at Al Falah.Sources familiar with the questioning of the accused said they believe Shaheen was providing financial support to the “white collar doctor” group, with alleged links to the Jaish-e-Mohammad, and letting one of the accused, Muzammil, use her vehicle, which has been recovered from Faridabad.Story continues below this adSecurity agencies, with help from police in other states, are now trying to piece together the siblings’ lives — their education, the people they met, their family relationships, and their stay abroad in Saudi Arabia and the Maldives. Both returned to India around the same time in 2017.A senior officer said Shaheen studied MBBS and MD at Allahabad’s SRN Medical College and joined GSVM Medical University in Kanpur in 2006 after clearing the UPPSC exam. She worked as an assistant professor in Pharmacology.However, in 2013, she left the institute without informing anyone and never returned, leading to her termination that same year after repeated notices went unanswered. She then joined Faridabad’s Al Falah School of Medical Sciences & Research Centre.Parvez completed his MBBS from Era Medical College in Lucknow and did his MD in Medicine from a college in Agra. He joined Integral University as a senior resident in 2021 but resigned on November 6.Story continues below this adAs part of the preliminary inquiry, officers said they found that Shaheen had drifted away from her family over the past five years, rarely visiting her parental home in Lucknow. Parvez, too, they said, had grown increasingly withdrawn.Sources earlier said they were focusing on gathering more information about Parvez’s activities. Local police were instructed to gather information about his movements and activities, while the ATS is investigating with whom he was in contact. His devices have also been seized from his Lucknow house, officials said.Back at Khandari Bazaar, neighbours speak of the family in whispers. When asked for directions to the house, residents avoid taking their names and simply gesture toward it.“In the current situation, no one wants to admit they knew the siblings or their family… But we remember them as school-going kids… Over the past few years, both of them gradually cut themselves off from everyone,” said a neighbour.Story continues below this adAround 15 km away, at Madiyaon, where Parvez lived, neighbours said he barely stepped outside except to pray. The house has remained locked ever since he was picked up.Station House Officer of Madiyaon police station, Shiva Nand Mishra, said rumours were being spread that residents living near the accused’s home had moved away after repeated visits by police and journalists. He said that no one has left the neighbourhood, there is no disturbance in the area, and police personnel have been deployed to maintain peace.