In the wee hours of Friday morning six people with alleged link with terrorist groups were detained by the National Intellingence Agency and the Delhi police with the help from local police.
Karnataka home minister said that one suspect each from Tumakuru and Mangaluru, and four people from Bengaluru were detained.
In Bengaluru, while one suspect was from Frazer town and another from Sarjapur area, rest of the two were from Jakkasandra area in the city.
Thirty-two –year-old Bushra Tabassum, wife of one of the suspects- Mohammed Afzal, told the media that she was deeply disturbed by the way her husband was taken away by around 30 people, who had claimed to be from Delhi police.
“The moment my husband opened the door they barged in and handcuffed my husband and put a black mask on his head. They searched the house and pointed a gun at me and asked where the weapons were. They searched the house and could not find anything. A woman in the group also frisked me. They took Afzal’s documents and certificates, my phone, laptop, bike and car,” she narrated.
Afzal's family addressing media. From left: Abdul Khader- Afzal's father-in-law, Amtul Hafeez- Afzal's mother, Bushra Tabassum- Afzal's wife
“They neither had any search warrant or papers nor did they tell me where they were taking Afzal. They even asked me to sign a blank paper and I refused to do so unless it had something written on it. They later wrote two lines saying that nothing was damaged during the search operation and asked me to sign in the end of the sheet. The warned me against approaching media or taking legal action. I am scared if they will frame my husband,”she added.
Thirty-five-year-old Afzal, is a software engineer working at IHS in Whitefield in Bengaluru. His work timings varied, but had no night shifts, said Bushra, who has been married to Afzal for seven years.
Asked whether Afzal ever went abroad, Bushra said that while he was in his previous job, Afzal went to Saudi Arabia for 9 months in 2007, after that he never did. “His passport has expired,”she said.
According to his wife, he knew Syed Anzar Shah Qasmi, who was arrested by Delhi police earlier this month by Delhi police for allegedly having links with Al Qaeda Islamic State, as a person who gave speeches in the Jayanagar mosque.
“Afzal would go to listen to Qasmi’s speeches, but as far as my knowledge goes, he did not have any close connection with the scholar,”she added.
Eighty-five-year-old Syed Hussain, father of Syed Mohammed Mujhaeed, who was also detained by police in a similar way, said that about 10 people, some in civilian clothes and others in uniform, took Mujhaeed in custody. They also ransacked the entire house at 3 am on Friday .
Syed Hussain, father of Syed Mujahaeed
“They took our phone, books and Rs.3.5 lakh which we got after selling our shop. We were not allow to ask what and why this was happening. They took away six passports belonging to Mujhaeed, his wife, and four children. They were to go to Haj this year,”said Hussain, who is a retired Tehsildar.
“We are an orthodox Muslim family. As a Tehsildar I have been very strict with my only son while bringing him up. My son is innocent and like others he also used to attend Anjar Shah’s speech but he does not have any direct contact with him,” he added.
According to a source, the suspect from Mangaluru, 25-year-old Najmul Huda, a resident of Bajpe in the city, was taken to custody. He was a student of chemical engineering in RV college of engineering in Bengaluru.
While Mujhaeed and Najmul has been taken to Delhi for questioning, there is no information about Afzal’s whereabouts.
NIA in a release confirmed that Afzal alias Abu Mariyam alias Yasir and Najmul Huda, were arrested.
Out of the14 detained from through out the country along with some incriminating articles, including mobile phones, laptops, books on jihadi literature and certain material for prepartation of bombs, 5 of them were arrested, said the release.
"These individuals were making efforts to establish channel of procurement of explosives, identify locations to organise training camps including training in fire arms, motivate new recruits to target police officers, foreigners in India and to carry out terrorist activities in various parts of the country," said the release.