Nanded,a Maharashtra district bordering Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh,has come under the terror scanner once again with the arrest of five of its youths. The police say they have evidence of their radical activities and claim to have recovered arms from them. Their families and neighbours say they have been falsely implicated. Mohammed Akram,Mohammed Ilyas,Mohammed Sadiq,Mohammed Mujameel and Mohammed Irfan,all of Nanded town and in their twenties,are among the 18 arrested from the three states Nanded connects for an alleged terror plot to kill Hindu leaders and journalists. Akram and Ilyas are brothers in a family of fruit vendors,though Akram had gone abroad over a year earlier,apparently on a driving job,and never returned home. Sadiq is a chemistry graduate studying for an M Sc and teaching local schoolchildren. Mujameel is a milk vendor and Irfan a vehicle battery repairman. Sadiqs father Mohd Farookh cites his sons education to stress his innocence. Both parents of the chemistry graduate are retired schoolteachers. Of the others,three are school dropouts while the fourth cleared class XII. Sadiq has no links with the others. They are less educated than he is, says Farookh. He has been falsely implicated. He wanted to be a lecturer and tutored schoolchildren in our area. Sadiq was reportedly picked up by the Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad from Nanded on August 30 and later arrested along with Ilyas,Irfan and Mujameel in Nanded itself. The ATS claimed to have seized two foreign-made pistols and 14 live cartridges from these four. Akram,who is Ilyass brother,was arrested by the Karnataka police in Bangalore on September 2 for alleged links with LeT and HuJI. Police say they seized a foreign-made revolver and 16 live cartridges from him. The four arrested in Nanded have been charged under the Arms Act but a police officer said that based on evidence collected they would be booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act too. The four are in police custody for seven days that started September 1. Investigators say the firearms seized from these four are similar to those found with Akram,who may have supplied these with the objective of attacking certain targets during the Ganesh festival. Naveenchandra Reddy,the ATS superintendent in Aurangabad,said the Nanded module had been formed by Akram. An officer said he had spent about a year in Saudi Arabia,where he allegedly trained under LeT and HuJI operatives. When he returned to India,he indoctrinated other youths in Nanded,say police,who suspect the network may be wider than the five arrested. They suspect there were plans to send more recruits to Pakistan or Saudi Arabia for training. The ATS seized the passports of Akram,Sadiq and Mujameel from their homes,conducted checks at a Nanded cyber cafe from where Sadiq allegedly operated,and say he had plans to go to a Middle East country. Mujameel had gone to Dubai in 2008,officers say. Sadiqs father says he had procured a passport in the hope of landing a good job in a foreign country some day. On September 5,two ATS sleuths came to my home and asked me to sign some documents. I refused and said I would consult a legal expert first. The sleuths then left. Reddy says everything is being done as per legal procedure. Sadiqs neighbour Latabai Gaware found it shocking that such a decent person has been arrested. Mohammed Iqbal,brother of Akram and Ilyas,insists both are innocent. Ilyas sells bananas. The ATS picked up Ilyas from his workplace. He is a very responsible person. About Akram,he says,He left home about 15 months ago saying he was taking up a driving job. We do not know where he worked. About two months ago,Ilyas met Akram in Mumbai and urged him to come home. But Akram said he would not. Akram gave his passport to Ilyas,which the ATS has seized from our home. My brothers were not involved even in petty crimes. We are gathering legal help from the community to fight the case. Irfans uncle Farook says,We know he is innocent. Mujameels brother Jamil wouldnt comment.
