Pune police clueless, NDA didn’t bother

Pune police today conceded that they had no information regarding the alleged links of ad-hoc NDA lecturer Anwar Ali who was arrested on Sun...

Pune police today conceded that they had no information regarding the alleged links of ad-hoc NDA lecturer Anwar Ali who was arrested on Sunday for harbouring Lashkar-e-Toiba activists involved in the Mulund train blast.

‘‘Till now, we are not in the picture. Mumbai police have informed us about Anwar’s arrest officially. However, we have no information on his activities or associates. We plan to send an officer to Mumbai to get the information given by Anwar,” Commissioner A.N. Roy said.

The commissioner said though police have been tracking activities of some former Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) members, Ali was not among them.

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Meanwhile, the NDA also admitted they did not check Ali’s credentials when he re-applied for Urdu instructor’s ad-hoc job in February after a gap of three years.

NDA deputy commandant Major General Ivor Satur said the academy did not deem it necessary to ask for another verification report on Ali following his fresh appointment in February this year. ‘‘Our lectures would come to a halt if this process is repeated everytime,’’ he said.

Ali had earlier worked with the NDA from 1996 to 2000 on contract. According to NDA officials, the academy had called for a verification report on all ad-hoc lecturers in 1999 which included Ali. The police report did not have any adverse observation on Ali’s background, officials said.

However, senior police officials claimed that NDA authorities were sent intelligence reports indicating that Ali had dubious links way back in 1999-2000.