7/11 blasts: ATS begin interrogations in Agartala

A two-member ATS team of Mumbai police interrogated two of the 11 detained Muslim youths in Tripura.

A two-member team of the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of Mumbai police interrogated two of the 11 detained Muslim youths in Agartala who hailed from Mumbra town in Maharashtra's Thane district.

HT Image

The interrogations were carried out on Monday night after the ATS team arrived and the rest of the youths would be questioned later at Sonarai where they were detained from a mosque, the police said.

The youths were apprehended from a mosque located at the border village of Sonarai in Tripura's Dhalai district on July 13 after the serial blasts in Mumbai and Srinagar on July 11.

The youths, who had identified themselves as religious activists, were detained for being involved in suspicious activities. They were also found to be trying to contact some people in Bangladesh.

Of the 11, one is an electronic engineer who studied in Texas, the USA, another a textile engineer and yet another is a mechanical engineer and the rest are barely literate.

The Tripura State Jamiat Ulama (TSJU) (Hind) President Tayebur Rahaman had on Monday claimed the youths were genuine members of the Tablig-e-Jamat, which, he said, was confirmed by the Nizamuddin mosque in Delhi and the Mumbra Halka Jimedar and were not involved with any militant outfit like Students Islam Movement of India (SIMI).