Imrana, who had allegedly placed a Rs 50,000-order to Javed Sheikh for making improvised explosive devices (IEDs), was arrested from her residence by a joint police team of Special Task Force (STF) and the district police in Muzaffarnagar district on Saturday evening.
According to an official communique of the STF released here on Sunday evening, 45-year-old Imrana is the wife of a man named Azad. She is a resident of Banti Khera village in the Shamli district and works as an occultist. She is also known as Imrana Baba.
Imrana has been living in Prempuri with her family members for a long time and has an extensive network because of her work. On February 16, the STF unit in Meerut arrested Javed Sheikh of Mimlana Road and recovered four time bombs from him. He disclosed that Imrana had asked him to make the bombs in exchange for Rs 50,000, and had paid Rs 10,000 in advance.
The police were searching for Imrana since then.
It is alleged that Imrana was planning to create unrest in India in protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). In addition to radicalising individuals, she was reportedly instrumental in the production and distribution of bombs. She recently placed orders to make time bombs that were to be detonated to cause fear throughout the nation.
Imrana was handed over to the Kotwali police where she was questioned by the STF team for two hours. The Intelligence Bureau (IB) team from Delhi will also interrogate her.
Imrana’s daughter, Rukhsar, alleged that they had turned Imrana over to the police.
Meanwhile, there is a growing whiff of a terrorist conspiracy. According to reports, the fresh order of bombs was intended to be utilised after the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) before the Lok Sabha elections.
Furthermore, she had ordered over 200 explosives in 2013 during the violence in Muzaffarnagar, and distributed them during the riots.
Senior Superintendent of Police Abhishek Singh said that Imrana would be interrogated to further know about the outfits and people behind her and their nefarious objectives.
STF Assistant Superintendent of Police Brijesh Singh said that Imrana had been in contact with Zarif Ahmed, the father of Javed Sheikh since 2009. He is employed as a hakim, a Muslim doctor who treats patients using conventional remedies. He had provided Imrana with medication for her sickness and has been connected to her ever since.
Imrana had asked for two explosives from Javed Shaikh even in 2009, one of which was detonated while the other was dropped into the river Kaali.
Imrana got in touch with Javed Sheikh and told him to prepare 55 bombs, some of which were used during 2013 riots. The others were stored at her house for several days and later dumped into the river Kali. Imrana kept four bombs inside her place in case there was another similar incident.
