Phulwarisharif arrests: Hand over cases to ATS, Patna SSP tells police HQ

After the arrests over the past few days, Patna police have lodged two separate cases — one against Popular Front of India (PFI) and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and the other in connection with the arrest of one Marghoob Ahmad Danish for running a WhatsApp group, named Gazwa-E-Hind, apparently to radicalise youths.

Patna police chief, senior superintendent of police (SSP) Manavjit Singh Dhillon, said Thursday that he has written to Bihar Police headquarters requesting that the cases related to a string of arrests made recently from Phulwarisharif in the state capital be transferred to state’s Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) since these have cross-border connections.

Patna SSP Manavjit Singh Dhillon (HT Photo)

After the arrests over the past few days, Patna police have lodged two separate cases — one against Popular Front of India (PFI) and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and the other in connection with the arrest of one Marghoob Ahmad Danish for running a WhatsApp group, named Gazwa-E-Hind, apparently to radicalise youths.

Dhillon said Danish’s case was not related to the earlier arrest of four persons associated with PFI and SDPI groups.

Talking to HT, the SSP said Patna police would seek remand of two of the arrested accused, Mohammad Nuruddin Jangi, an advocate, and Mohammad Jalaluddin, a retired police sub-inspector of Jharkhand Police, for interrogation to expedite the investigation in the case related to PFI and SDPI.

Meanwhile, Danish, who allegedly has links with Pakistan-based extremist group Tehreeq-e-Labbaiq, was remanded to judicial custody on Thursday after the special investigation team (SIT) completed his interrogation. As per the Police, Danish has connections with terrorists from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Yemen and some other Gulf countries.