Post News Network
Bhubaneswar: Abdur Rehman, the suspected Al-Qaeda member who was arrested from Cuttack district December 16, did not visit the secretariat, twin city police commissioner RP Sharma said Friday.
The statement comes against the backdrop of the hue and cry over a media report that the suspected terrorist, who is lodged in a special cell in the national capital, had visited the school and mass education department in October.
“Someone named A Rehman visited the secretariat October 7 at 11:15 am, but he was not the suspected Al-Qaeda member. The person who visited the secretariat worked as a peon in the office of the chief district medical officer (CDMO) in Cuttack,” Sharma said.
“The special cell of Delhi Police also told us that during interrogation Rehman, who is on remand for 12 days with Delhi police, never said that he visited the secretariat,” Sharma said.
Police are also scanning the CCTV footage to ascertain whether the peon in the Cuttack CDMO’s office actually entered the secretariat on October 7 or not. “We are also checking whether the same person (A Rehman) visited the secretariat or someone else entered it in his name,” an officer said.
Congress and BJP leaders had accused the state government of allowing people with terrorist links to freely roam in the high-security secretariat area. The parties had also demanded a high-level investigation into the incident.