The five-member special police team from Cuttack in Odisha, investigating the possible terror links of Abdur Rahman alias Katki in Jharkhand, is likely to complete its investigation by Wednesday after which they will leave from here. Katki was arrested from Odisha on December 16 for his alleged links with Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) - the Indian branch of the terrorist outfit.
“They are interrogating people according to the contact list available with them. They are also interrogating such people who had invited Katki to their home or those who played hosts during his visits to Ranchi,” said ADG (Operations) and Jharkhand Police Spokesperson SN Pradhan. The team was also trying to scan the disclosure which has been made by Rahman before the Delhi Police.
Investigation of Odisha police regarding the possible terror links of Abdur Rahman alias Katki. “Yesterday they completed their investigation at Kairo in lohardaga and today they were investigating somewhere in Chanho area of Ranchi,” he added.
“Jharkhand Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) Chief P Murugan has already interrogated Katki in Delhi a few days back while a DSP level officer of ATS is still camping in Delhi to gather more information related to Katki’s activities in Jharkhand,” said ADG SN Pradhan.
Officials of Ranchi Police and Crime Investigation Department are helping Odisha team in carrying out the investigation in this regard.
Until his arrest on December 16, Rehman, a PhD on Islam from Uttar Pradesh, was running a Madarsa in Odisha having a remarkable number of students from Jharkhand, where he has been giving many religious sermons on special invitations.
Rehman, according to the police, has developed multipole contacts in Jharkhand over the years and some of them might have been radicalized towards terrorism.
Police said Rehman’s operations were confined to Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Bangalore where he organized several community meetings and delivered inflammatory speeches.
He headed the group’s motivation, recruitment and training wing. A father of three children, Rahman had been under the lens of Jharkhand and Odisha police for the past one year for making inflammatory speeches.