On Friday, six people with alleged links to terrorist groups were detained by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and the Delhi police with the help of the Karnataka police. According to the state Home Minister one suspect each from Tumakuru and Mangaluru, and four people from Bengaluru were detained.
Bushra Tabassum, wife of one of the suspects, Mohammed Afzal, however told the media that she was deeply disturbed by the way her husband was taken away by around 30 people, who claimed to be Delhi police personnel.
Bushra TabassumThe moment my husband opened the door they barged in and handcuffed my husband and put a black mask on his head. They searched the house and pointed a gun at me and asked where the weapons were. They searched the house and could not find anything. A woman in the group also frisked me. They took Afzal’s documents and certificates, my phone, laptop, bike and the car.
Being Framed?
Bushra TabassumThey neither had any search warrant or papers nor did they tell me where they were taking Afzal. They even asked me to sign a blank paper and I refused to do so unless it had something written on it. They later wrote two lines saying that nothing was damaged during the search operation and asked me to sign in the end of the sheet. The warned me against approaching media or taking legal action. I am scared if they will frame my husband.
Thirty-five-year-old Afzal is a software engineer working at IHS in Whitefield in Bengaluru. His work timings varied, but had no night shifts, said Bushra, who has been married to Afzal for seven years.
Asked whether Afzal ever went abroad, Bushra said that while he was in his previous job, Afzal went to Saudi Arabia for 9 months in 2007, after that he never did. “His passport has expired,”she said.
According to his wife, he knew Syed Anzar Shah Qasmi, who was arrested by Delhi police earlier this month by Delhi police for allegedly having links with Al-Qaeda Islamic State, as a person who gave speeches in the Jayanagar mosque.
Bushra TabassumAfzal would go to listen to Qasmi’s speeches, but as far as my knowledge goes, he did not have any close connection with the scholar.
14 Suspects Nabbed
Eighty-five-year-old Syed Hussain, father of Syed Mohammed Mujhaeed, who was also detained by police in a similar way, said that about 10 people, some in civilian clothes and others in uniform, took Mujhaeed in custody. They also ransacked the entire house at 3 am on Friday .
Syed HussainThey took our phone, books and Rs 3.5 lakh which we got after selling our shop. We were not allowed to ask what and why this was happening. They took away six passports belonging to Mujhaeed, his wife, and four children. They were to go to Haj this year. We are an orthodox Muslim family. As a Tehsildar I have been very strict with my only son while bringing him up. My son is innocent and like others he also used to attend Anjar Shah’s speech but he does not have any direct contact with him.
According to a source, the suspect from Mangaluru, 25-year-old Najmul Huda, a resident of Bajpe area was taken to custody. He was a student of chemical engineering in RV college of engineering in Bengaluru.
While Mujhaeed and Najmul have been taken to Delhi for questioning, there is no information about Afzal’s whereabouts.
NIA in a release confirmed that Afzal alias Abu Mariyam alias Yasir and Najmul Huda, were arrested.
Out of the 14 detained from throughout the country (along with some incriminating articles, including mobile phones, laptops, books on jihadi literature and certain material for preparation of bombs), 5 of them have been arrested, said the release.
NIA Press ReleaseThese individuals were making efforts to establish channel of procurement of explosives, identify locations to organise training camps including training in fire arms, motivate new recruits to target police officers, foreigners in India and to carry out terrorist activities in various parts of the country.
(The writer Sarayu Srinivasan works with The News Minute. )
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