A day after police claimed as “rumour” that funds being raised by a Muslim community to meet legal expenses of arrested Al Qaida terror module Abdul Rehman, hundreds of locals on Friday staged a dharna in front of the Salepur police station demanding a thorough investigation into the whole incident to clear the air on such a sensitive issue.
On Thursday, one Sheikh Tahimur Ali (53) of Sahipada village had lodged a police complaint that some youths of his village were coercing him to donate Rs 50,000 towards legal expenses of Rehman. Tahimur had also alleged that he and his son were threatened of dire consequences if he did not cough up the amount.
The Salepur police investigating into it after registering a case in this connection came to a conclusion that Tahimur’s allegations were baseless and false. “He had lodged the complaint against the youths implicating them with Rehman, but it was only to teach them a lesson for having a grudge against them for a personal rivalry,” the police had said.
But when rumours spread that Tahimur had approached the police at the behest of one Ranjit Das of the locality, taking umbrage to it, Ranjit Das along with his supporters on Friday sat on a dharna in front of the police station. Claiming that he had no role in this whole incident, Ranjit demanded a thorough probe into the matter vis-a-vis the secret meetings held in the locality to garner support for Rehman.
