Three days after they arrested a newspaper distributor, Belagavi police are investigating whether there was a plot to orchestrate an attack on the Sambre airport in the district.
Mohammad Hussian Ali Qureshi, a newspaper distributor was arrested on Tuesday at Sambre airport, for photographing and videographing vital installations of restricted areas in the airport. Police claim they recovered more than 36 photographs taken by him from around the state. Qureshi has been booked under sedition charges.
Belagavi police claimed that on interrogation, Qureshi (21) had tipped them off about other suspects in Kalaburgi district.
On Thursday, they picked up Javed, the editor of Urdu daily Ejaz Bihari and photographer Akbar. Police have claimed that Qureshi was photographing the airport under their instructions.
They took the two journalists to an unknown place in Kalaburagi for questioning said The Hindu reported.
While Qureshi was arrested as the police suspected that he might have links with the Islamic State, police have said that the two journalists have not yet been arrested as there is no evidence of their involvement with the organisation, Inspector General of Police of the North Eastern Range Sunil Agarwal has said.
Javed is from Bihar, had settled in Kalaburagi after he married a woman from the district, The Hindu reported.
According to a TNIE report, police sources said that Qureshi photographed places in Bengaluru. Vidhana Soudha, Lalbagh, Tipu’s palace, Utility Building and BMTC bus stand in Shantinagar were among them.
Police have recovered photographs of railway timetables and tracks at Hubballi railway station and airport, of places around Gadag and Bagalkot. They found pictures of a mosque, the market police station and railway station at Belagavi. Qureshi claimed that he was paid `5,000 for each approved photograph, said TNIE report.