Commissionerate Police probing if students at Rehman’s madrassa at Tangi were radicalised
post news network
Bhubaneswar: Suspected al-Qaeda facilitator Mohammed Abdur Rehman, who was arrested by a joint team of Delhi Police and the twin-city Commissionerate Police December 16, was asked by the international terror outfit to recruit fighters for it from India, said police.
“Mohammad Asif, a suspected member of al-Qaeda, who was arrested by the Special Cell of Delhi Police, had been instructed by the organisation’s Pakistan-based operatives to discuss the recruitments with Rehman. Asif and Rehman had earlier met in Bangalore. Police officials are investigating why Asif had met Rehman,” said twin-city Police Commissioner Dr Rajendra Prasad Sharma to journalists Sunday.
The commissionerate police is also probing whether the students at Rehman’s madrassa at Tangi were ‘radicalised’ and whether any attempts were made to recruit them for the terrorist organisation, said Sharma. All the students of the madrassa run by Rehman have been handed over to their parents, who mostly hail from Jharkhand, in the past three days in presence of the district administration and police officials.
“A team led by an inspector left for Jharkhand today to investigate the reasons behind Rehman’s frequent visits to Ranchi, Jamshedpur and other parts of Bihar and Jharkhand. Another team led by an ACP will leave for the national capital tomorrow and will coordinate with Delhi Police’s special cell, which is presently interrogating Rehman,” said Sharma.
Earlier, police interrogated two teachers of the madrassa at Jagatpur police station about the functioning of the seminary. After Rehman’s arrest, the security of Aviation Research Centre (ARC) at Charbatia near Choudwar has been tightened.
Meanwhile, Delhi Police claimed to have busted several modules of al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), a regional unit of the global terror outfit that had been allegedly trying to indoctrinate youth from across the country. Sources said police learnt about the presence of six modules of AQIS while questioning Asif and Rehman.
These modules were operational in western parts of Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Delhi, added the sources.
In May, intelligence agencies had intensified surveillance to ascertain whether the AQIS was making any recruitment attempts in the country.
