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NIA picks up three from UP’s Fatehpur to probe terror links
The NIA conducted searches in Fatehpur and took three people into custody for questioning over alleged terror links. The arrests were made following the arrest of three suspects by the Delhi Police.
National Investigation Agency (NIA) carried out searches in Fatehpur district and took three people into their custody for questioning over their alleged terror links on Wednesday night, police officials said on Thursday.
The NIA officials said suspects were being interrogated at the agency’s office in Lucknow.
The arrests were made after the special cell of the Delhi Police arrested three suspects, who were allegedly running the terror module on Sunday as well as on Monday. Two of these three suspects, Mohammad Rizwan Ashraf (28) and Mohammad Warsi (29) were arrested from Lucknow and Moradabad respectively on October 3, while their third accomplice, Shahnawaz Alam (31) was arrested from Delhi’s Jaitpur and carried a reward of ₹3 lakh announced by the NIA.
Fatehpur circle officer of city area, Veer Singh while talking to the media confirmed that NIA conducted searches at three places and took some people into custody over their alleged involvement in terror activities. Singh said the local police are trying to gather more details about terror network from those in police custody.
Another local police officer informed that the NIA team raided the places of suspects including the house of a retired jailer at Kheldaar locality, house of a mosque muttawali (caretaker) and the house of a former member of banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) at Bakarganj locality between 9 pm and 12 am on Wednesday night. Singh said three persons were taken by NIA and a father-son duo were questioned for 20 minutes at their house.
He said the son used to stay in Hyderabad for past few years and had recently shifted to his hometown. Singh said the NIA raided the houses of suspects and took them in their custody after some links surfaced with those arrested by the special cell of Delhi police.
It is not the first time when Fatehpur and its residents’ involvement had surfaced in terror and anti-national activities. Earlier on June 21, 2021, the UP ATS had arrested one Umar Gautam, who was born as Shyam Prakash Singh Gautam in a Hindu family in Fatehpur and is alleged to be the key accused of the mass religious conversion racket operational across different states.
Umar Gautam’s elder brother Uday Pratap Singh, who resides in Fatehpur’s Ashok Nagar colony, was also quizzed by the ATS sleuths about details of others linked to Umar.
He along with one Jahangir Alam was arrested for being involved in mass religious conversions in UP, Delhi and other states.
