Terror suspect was under watch, Maharashtra home minister denies intelligence failure

He was responding to the allegations made by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ashish Shelar over intelligence failure of the state police and no free hand to the force by the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government

State home minister Dilip Walse Patil on Wednesday said the police have all the right to arrest people from other states if they have concrete information. He, however, added that Jaan Mohammad Shaikh alias Sameer Kalia, a terror suspect, was under police surveillance and denied the allegations of intelligence failure. He also refused to disclose if Intelligence Bureau (IB) had shared any alert or input with the state police on the terror module. The home minister further asked the opposition parties not to bring politics in the extremely sensitive matter and they are required to cooperate with the state and the police.

Maharashtra home minister Dilip Walse Patil said Jaan Mohammad Shaikh alias Sameer Kalia, a terror suspect, was under police surveillance and denied the allegations of intelligence failure. (HT Photo)

He was responding to the allegations made by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ashish Shelar over intelligence failure of the state police and no free hand to the force by the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.

“Police have the right to make arrests in other states on the basis of concrete information and accordingly Jaan Mohammad Shaikh alias Sameer Kalia was arrested,” the home minister said after holding a meeting with senior police officials following the arrest of a terror suspect from Dharavi in Mumbai for his alleged association with a Pakistan-organised terror module.

“A case was registered against Shaikh in 2001 since then there is no criminal record against him. Police keep a watch of all the people who need to be under surveillance, and he was also under watch. There is no intelligence failure,” Patil said.

“Sometimes the information of IB is shared with the states and sometimes it is not,” he said while refusing to share details if the information of Intelligence Bureau was shared with the Mumbai Police or not.

He said that the case is very sensitive, and he won’t be able to share many details as it may impact the investigation. He was talking to reporters in Mantralaya after his meeting with senior police officers.

On Tuesday, the special cell of Delhi Police arrested six people who were part of an alleged “Pakistan-trained terror module” and claimed to have averted serial blasts and targeted killings in at least three states including Maharashtra during the upcoming festive season. One of them, Shaikh, is a Dharavi resident. Delhi Police have claimed that Shaikh was part of the six-member ‘Pakistan-trained terror module’ and arrested him from Kota in Rajasthan. Underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s brother Anees Ibrahim, suspected to be hiding in Pakistan, was connected to this module and trying to smuggle arms and ammunition into the country.

On Wednesday, Shelar squarely blamed the MVA government over alleged negligence by the state intelligence unit. “Were the police that issued a lookout notice against a Union minister (Narayan Rane) for a non-cognizable offence, another lookout notice for a sitting MLA and misbehaved with a journalist, sleeping for the terrorists? If the police had the intelligence, then why action was not taken? Or they want to take a moderate stand against a particular community for political purposes?,” Shelar accused. He further alleged that though the state police force is capable enough, they are being involved in other matters such as extortion, and that is the reason such cases happen.

“Instead of raising questions on the law-and-order situation, the Opposition party should cooperate with the police. They also should not hold protests by violating the government’s order. I don’t want to give importance to his (Ashish Shelar) statement. Mumbai police too have arrested two people in Delhi two days ago though in a different case. Police have the right to make an arrest,” Patil said in his response.

“The police have been given free hand in the state. They are not engaged in any other work. I don’t think there is any sort of political interference. They are doing their job properly,” he added further.