Continuing with its joint operation with Haridwar police, a team of the Special Cell of Delhi Police brought the key accused Akhlaq and his friend Osama supposedly linked to Islamic State (IS) to landhaura on Wednesday for interrogation.
They have been on remand since they were arrested on January 20 by police. Since then, police have been conducting multiple raids in and around Haridwar city. They are learnt to have collected evidences from the shops from where the accused had purchased mobile phone and match boxes. The whole operation lasted for about two hours.
It is learnt that they also visited the Mela control room. They searched CCTV footages trapped in the cameras installed at various locations of Har Ki pauri and Haridwar railway station. The team spent some time talking to IG Ardh Kumbh Mela G S Martolia. The Delhi police team was accompanied by CO City Haridwar and left Haridwar by 4 30 pm. They inspected all the places where reconnaissance was purportedly done by the four IS operatives.
Notably, 12 days ago, police had brought the other two accused to their villages in Haridwar district to recover evidences related to the case. They had been taken to landhaura village of Roorkee area in a car. Police had reportedly recovered some inflammable substances from the site and some money from the house of the accused Mehraz.
On Wednesday noon, Delhi police reached Haridwar with the main accused Akhlaq and Osama. They went to landhaura village where a grocery shop owner was questioned. The accused had allegedly purchased a huge number of matchboxes from the grocery shop.
Thereafter, police reached the mobile phone shop located at BSM College trijunction in Roorkee. Akhlaq had reportedly purchased a mobile phone from that shop. The sub- inspector of Mangalore police station, M M Bhatt confirmed that the police personnel had returned after their search operation that lasted for two hours was over. “They arrived at landhaura police station around 12 noon and thereafter, they went to some shops in Roorkee to question the owners. After collecting some evidences, the team returned in the afternoon,” said Bhatt.
As per the sources, the police personnel in plain clothes came to the mobile shop at BSM College Chownk around 2 pm and got the owner to shutter the shop. They interrogated the shop owner and after that, they returned.
It is pertinent to mention that Delhi Police on January 20 night had arrested four people linked to Islamic State (ISIS) aged between 19 and 23 years who were suspected to be in touch with handlers based in Syria and Iraq. The outfit was at the final stage of executing multiple attacks in Delhi, NCR region and the Ardh Kumbh Mela site in Haridwar when they were arrested after being tipped by the intelligence agency and taken on remand, police had said.