28-yr-old held for plotting to open madrasa for jihadi training

Hyderabad: A 28-year-old man from West Bengal has been arrested here for allegedly conspiring with a Pakistani national to start a madrasa for imparting jihadi training, Hyderabad Police said.

The arrest yesterday of Alim-Ul-Islam Mandal, a labourer and native from Dakshin Dinajpur district of West Bengal, follows the nabbing on August 14 this year of one Mohammed Nasir, a Pakistani national with alleged links to banned terror outfits HuJI and Indian Mujahideen (IM).

Nasir allegedly was involved in facilitating illegal immigration from Bangladesh and Myanmar. Mandal's arrest comes amidst the continuation of the probe by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Hyderabad Police in connection with the case of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar fraudulently obtaining Indian passports in Hyderabad, they said.

As part of investigations, a team was deputed to Cherlapally jail here at regular intervals to keep a close vigil on persons coming to meet those arrested (during Mulaquaths) in this case as well as in other cases, police said.

A SIT team at Cherlapally jail then apprehended Mandal when he came to the facility to meet Nasir, they said. Nasir and Mandal both worked at a blanket factory in Panipat and, along with some others, had decided to start a madrasa to impart jihadi training, police claimed.

In a release, Hyderabad Police stated that during interrogation, Nasir had said he, along with Mandal and another person, had conspired to open a madrasa to impart jihadi training. Mandal, therefore, came to Hyderabad to meet Nasir in order to chart out further plans for their unlawful activities, the release added.
Police said that, earlier, along with Nasir, two Bangladeshis, one Myanmar national and two local agents -- Sohail Parvez Khan and Masood Ali Khan -- were also arrested. On August 20, four policemen were also suspended in connection with the case, they said.

According to Hyderabad police, one Shaik Noor, a Bangladesh national and a wanted accused in the case was arrested from Delhi on August 21. Also, a native of Myanmar living in Zaheerabad town of Medak district in Telangana, Hashim alias Shaik Ameer, was picked up from Lingampally railway station here at around the same time in connection with the investigations.

PTI