Bengaluru: The six terror suspects arrested in Karnataka were taken to Delhi for further investigation by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) officials on Sunday.
The suspects – Najmul Huda alias Majnu, Mohammed Afzal, Syed Mujahid, Asif Ali alias Arman Saani, Suhail Ahmed, and Muhammad Abdul Ahad – were taken to the Kempegowda International Airport around 5 am on Sunday, and from there to Delhi in a flight. More than 20 NIA officials flew with the suspects.
“All the 13 suspects arrested were in touch with each other over the last few years. They had also held two meetings recently to discuss plans to strengthen and expand their network. They were questioned separately in Bengaluru, and they will be questioned together in Delhi,” an official said.
The youth picked up from Bengaluru and the other arrested in Mumbai and Hyderabad were in touch with each other and had met several times to discuss plans on expanding their network.
“They held a meeting in Bengaluru and in Tumakuru in November and December. Muslim preacher Syed Anzar Shah Qasmi, who was arrested in Bengaluru by the Delhi ATS recently, took part in both the meetings. The first one was organised by Mudabbir Mushtaq Shaikh of Mumbai and Mohammed Nafees Khan of Hyderabad. All the four suspects from Bengaluru and Qasmi attended the meeting,” an official said.
“A few weeks later, the second meeting was organised by Syed Mujahid on the outskirts of Tumakuru and the suspects attended that meeting too,” he said.
Terror suspect, wife remanded to custody
Javed Rafeeq, a terror suspect who stabbed a Telangana ATS staff on Saturday, and his wife Yasmeen Banu, have been remanded to the custody of Parappana Agrahara police, who have booked the couple for attempt to murder and other charges.
Rafeeq, on Saturday evening, had stabbed Srinivasulu, an ATS constable, when the staff raided his house located in Vinayaka Nagar 4th Main in Naganathapura in Parappana Agrahara police station limits. The local police had also arrested his wife as she allegedly helped him to stab the policeman and flee. A dagger was seized from the couple.
The police produced the couple before a magistrate and sought them to police custody. The judge remanded the couple to police custody for 14 days. The police have booked the couple for attempt to murder, deterring public servant from discharging his duty, and other charges.
Meanwhile, police sources said that following Rafeeq’s arrest, the officials on the National Investigation Agency rushed to the Parappana Agrahara police station, where the suspect was kept, and questioned him. It is learnt that Rafeeq’s original name is Asgar and was wanted in a terror attack case reported a few years ago. “He had gone absconding after that but was using a Facebook account in the name of Javed Rafeeq and was trying to get in touch with other terror suspects,” an official said.
“The Telangana ATS officials would take him to custody in 2-3 days and would take him to Telanagana,” the official added.
