In a major breakthrough by the security agencies, a suspected al-Qaeda cadre, who was staying in India on fraudulently obtained documents like Aadhaar and PAN cards and studying in Darul Uloom Deoband, was arrested from Saharanpur on Friday.
Reports said that on the inputs provided by the Intelligence Bureau (IB), a Bangladeshi national, identified as Talha Faruq, was detained by Uttar Pradesh’s Anti-Terrorists Squad on Friday.
Sources confirmed that Talha Faruq was an associate of Jainal Abedin, a Bangladeshi national and Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) cadre arrested from Bhopal along with five others on March 14 on the basis of IB inputs.
Preliminary screening of Faruq's phone showed 'jihadi' content related to ABT, al-Qaeda and Tehrik-e-Taliban, Pakistan, the sources said.
A detailed interrogation and forensic examination of seized digital media is underway.
The sources said they would try to get to the root of the modus operandi and possible plans in days to come. They added that the role of Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband was also under the scanner amid suspicions of local support.
The sources said that after this development, Darul Uloom had also issued a statement making police verification mandatory for all students.
The ATS, in a statement released on Friday afternoon, said the accused was called to their office in Saharanpur for questioning over fake Indian documents and was subsequently arrested.
Earlier this month, the ATS had carried out raids in seven cities of Uttar Pradesh, including Saharanpur, in connection with the Gorakhnath temple attack case.
ADG (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said that the police custody of prime accused in the Gorakhnath temple attack case, Ahmed Murtaza Abbasi, had been extended until May 3.
On Monday, the ATS produced Murtaza in ATS/National Investigation Agency special court in Lucknow to seek his police custody remand. He has been booked under sections 16, 18, 20 and 40 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) as terror links of the arrested accused were found after he attacked police personnel on Gorakhnath temple gate.
