Four of the 10 terror suspects who were detained by the Delhi Police for their alleged ideological leaning towards banned outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) were on Saturday released due to lack of adequate evidence, three days after being questioned by Special Cell, the anti-terrorist unit.
A police source confirmed that six detained youths will be sent to rehabilitation and counsellors working with NGOs will further guide them in the right direction. Reportedly, the NGOs will also seek help of Islamic clerics and scholars to de-radicalise the detained youths who were targeted by the arrested persons.
Of the four, three are residents of East Delhi’s Chand Bagh locality while the fourth is from Ghaziabad’s loni area. They were let off from the Special Cell’s lodhi Colony office on Saturday evening.
They were freed after investigators said they did not find adequate evidence to prove their involvement in the suspected Jaish-e-Mohammed ring, which was busted earlier this week with the arrest of three youths and Improvised Explosive Device were recovered from their possession, police sources said.
As many as 13 people were picked up by the Special Cell after a late night operation on Tuesday. Of them, three have been arrested, four let off and six are still being questioned by the investigators.
“Police have still not been able to ascertain the source of funds for the suspects who were allegedly tasked with executing serial strikes in the city,” said senior officials, adding that investigators were scrutinising the contents of the Whatsapp group and the chat room in which all 13 people who were picked up by them were members. The four youths who were set free on Saturday were given counselling before their release, sources said.
During the interrogation, three youths arrested for alleged links with banned Jaish-e- Mohammed told police officers on Friday that the trio was shown videos pertaining to alleged atrocities against Muslims in Jammu & Kashmir, Muzaffarnagar and Iraq to induct them into the outfit and execute terror strikes in the national Capital. A senior police official said prime accused Sajid had joined a social media page where he met a cyber entity Talha, believed to be close to JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar, who is wanted by India in connection with 2001 Parliament attacks case and the terror strike on Pathankot IAF base in January.
The page had links to several websites which allegedly propagate jehad ideology. In one such website, Sajid found a phone number, which pertained to Pakistan and the contact number later turned out to be that of Talah, the official had said.
Once Sajid had roped in the other two youths — Sameer Ahmed (arrested), Shakir Ansari (arrested) and few others into the module — the cyber entity sent them links to videos showing alleged atrocities against Muslims in Jammu & Kashmir, Muzaffarnagar and Iraq. The idea was to induct them into the outfit and plan serial blasts here, the official had said.
Investigators had earlier claimed that the trio was initially inspired by terror outfit ISIS and later shifted their ideological leaning. Sajid was self-radicalised and propagated ideology which was in line with that of the ISIS until he came in touch with Talha, they said.