E-Paper
11 detained Muslims freed in Tripura
The state govt has given a clean chit to the youths from Maharashtra.
Eleven Muslim youths from Maharashtra who had been detained in Tripura on suspicion of being involved with militant outfits have been freed, police said.
A police statement issued on Wednesday night said that after completion of interrogation, it was found the youths had visited Tripura for the purpose of preaching the tenets of Islam.
The youths had been apprehended from a mosque in the border village of Sonarai in Dhalai district two days after the serial blasts in Mumbai and Srinagar on July 11.
Their detention evoked a strong response from the Tripura State Jamiat Ulema (ISJU), which said that the youths, all ISJU activists, who were conducting religious activities "were being harassed for no reason".
ISJU president Mukti Tayebur Rahaman said the detained youths were "genuine" members of Tablig-e-Jamat which was confirmed by Nizamuddin mosque in Delhi and Mumbra Halka Jimedar in Thane and that they had no link with any Islamic militant outfit.
A delegation of the Ulema had also met Chief Minister Manik Sarkar on Wednesday and urged him to look into the "illegal" detention of the youths, who hailed from Mumbra town in Thane district.
