IS man held in Haryana: UP ATS to join Gujarat peers in terror probe
His family, villagers expressed shock and surprise after his arrest from Faridabad village on Sunday allegedly for conspiring attack on Ram temple
Shock and surprise reign in Village Manjnai, in Ayodhya’s Milkipur assembly constituency, after the arrest of a 19-year-old terror suspect, Abdul Rehman on Sunday. The family members - under continuous vigil - are stunned after his arrest, allegedly for conspiring an attack on Ayodhya’s Ram temple.
UP ATS officials said that they are in touch with their Gujarat counterparts and will visit Ahmedabad to interrogate Abdul Rehman and collect more information about him in the matter.
The Gujarat Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) in joint operation with Haryana police had arrested Abdul Rehman from an abandoned house of Pali village of Haryana’s Faridabad for planning to attack the Ram temple after allegedly being brainwashed by his handler of IS Khurasan terror module. The agencies also claimed to have recovered two hand grenades from his possession.
“How could he be involved in terror activities as he is not medically fit, and has been treated for heart disease since childhood,” said Abdul Rehman’s mother, Ashmin, while speaking to mediapersons in her village.
However, she agreed that he left for Delhi along with another village resident, Khurshid, on March 1, after receiving a call from his unknown friend on February 28. “He was in so much hurry that he did not even wait to get a confirmed train reservation and boarded the train without it on Saturday. Later, on Sunday night, a police team visited our house and collected some belongings of Abdul Rehman and left. Cops also took along his father’s mobile phone,” she said.
His father, Abu Bakar, runs a meat shop outside his 600-square-foot house in Muslim-dominated Manjnai, and the family comes from a very humble background. Abu Bakar too expressed shock and surprise over the arrest of his son for having terror connections. He said Abdul informed about visiting Delhi and expressed ignorance about how he reached Faridabad, Haryana.
A senior ATS official said the suspect’s village is nearly 36 kilometers from Ram temple and the Gujarat ATS officials have informed that he had done a reconnaissance of the temple a few weeks ago with the intention to target it soon. “We are cross-checking the facts and further investigating the matter,” he emphasised and added, “The suspect’s family has been under continuous vigil since Sunday”.
