Maulana Abdul Rehman, who was arrested last month in a joint operation of Delhi and Cuttack-Bhubaneswar police from Jagatpur area in Cuttack for his alleged links with the Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) had reportedly spent seven years in Bengaluru, between 2003 and 2010, after he ran into trouble with the Uttar Pradesh police in a terror related case, top official sources told this newspaper.
“Rehman had initially sought shelter in the city and soon built a strong AQIS network here with the help of Anzar Shah Qasmi and Pasha,” an official source told this newspaper. Qasmi and Pasha were arrested by the Delhi Police (special cell) from the city after Rehman gave them away.
Qasmi, who was arrested on January 6 from Bengaluru for alleged links with AQIS, had reportedly met the top India commander of AQIS — Sanaul Haq alias Maulana Asim Umar, who was anointed as the Emir of AQIS by the Al Qaeda chief Ayman Al Zawahiri in 2014, the officer added. Umar is originally from Sambhal district in Uttar Pradesh and has been missing for the last 10 years, according to the police records.
