Post News Network
Cuttack: Officials of the district administration and Tangi police Friday handed over 12 students of the madrassa run by suspected al-Qaeda terrorist Mohammed Abdur Rehman at Balateruon under Tangi police limits to their families from Jharkhand.
“We have handed over 12 students from Jharkhand to their guardians after duly verifying their identities. The number of students at the madrassa has now reduced to 60,” said Tangi police in-charge Smruti Ranjan Kar.
Guardians of the released students, meanwhile, claimed that they had no information regarding Rehman’s suspected links with the international terrorist outfit.
“We had enrolled our wards in the madrassa run by Rehman as our village does not have a seminary to provide education on religion and various educational subjects,” said Ahabir Ansari of Jharkhand, one of the guardians who recorded their statements with Tangi police assistant sub-inspector SS Dhir.
The officials had handed over two students from Orissa—Izaz Muhammad of Khandagiri and Abu Abil of Banamalipur in Khurda—to their families Thursday.
In a worrying development that has come to light, as many as 31 students of the madrassa have been diagnosed with chickenpox and dysentery. “Most of the students are suffering from skin diseases due to the prevailing unhygienic atmosphere at the seminary. A special team of doctors including epidemiologists Kalimullah Khan and Dillip Kumar Routray has examined the students and provided them medicines,” said an official of the district administration.
Sources said Rehman established the seminary in 2010 after buying a plot from a woman.
The land was recorded in the name of a trust. However, the seminary has not been registered with the appropriate government department, they said.
“We are now trying to get details regarding the sources of funds received by the madrassa and the nature of its curriculum,” said an official of the commissionerate police.