The Hyderabad police on Thursday said they had not received any information about the killing of wanted terrorist Abdul Shahid alias Bilal, the prime suspect in the August 25 twin blasts in Hyderabad, in a gun battle in Karachi.
"I saw it (news of Shahid's death) on TV, but we have not received any official intimation," Hyderabad Police Commissioner Balwinder Singh told reporters when asked about Pakistan media reports of Shahid being killed in Karachi on August 30.
Shahid, 27, against whom the Interpol had recently issued a red corner notice, is the alleged mastermind of recent bomb blasts in the city and also other terror attacks in south India in recent years.
Shahid's father also said he had no information about his reported killing.
"We were not in touch with him for the last four years and I don't know anything about him," said Abdul Wahid, a retired government teacher.
"Why you are asking me the same question again and again. How do I know about this when we had no contacts with him for the last four years?" he retorted when reporters repeated the question.
Wahid, father of 11 children, reluctantly came out when newsmen reached his house in Moosarambagh for his reaction to Pakistani media reports that Shahid was gunned down by Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) in Karachi.
{{/usCountry}}Wahid, father of 11 children, reluctantly came out when newsmen reached his house in Moosarambagh for his reaction to Pakistani media reports that Shahid was gunned down by Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) in Karachi.
{{/usCountry}}"I am running from pillar to post to know the whereabouts of my younger son. He is in illegal custody and I don't know where has been kept. After every four-five days policemen are coming to the house and harassing us," said a crying 71-year-old Wahid, pleading that he be left alone.
Wahid had recently stated that if Shahid was behind the terrorist attacks, he should be killed. Shahid is suspected to be the mastermind of August 25 twin blasts in the city that claimed 44 lives.
Believed to be the south India chief of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed and Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami (HUJI), he allegedly masterminded the May 18 blast at Hyderabad's historic Mecca Masjid, which killed nine people. He is also believed to be the brain behind the suicide attack on the police commissioner's task force office here and the attack on Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore in 2005.
A few suspects arrested after the Mecca Masjid blast told the police that 10 kg of RDX was brought to Hyderabad from Bangladesh on Shahid's orders.
The Police claim that Shahid is shuttling between Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and through his contacts in Hyderabad was recruiting youths for arms training in neighbouring countries.
Shahid is absconding since the 2003 blast near Sai Baba temple in Dilsukhnagar area here that killed three people.
His one brother, Abdul Zahid, is in jail in connection with the blast at the police ask force office while the youngest Abdul Majeed and two brothers-in-law were picked up after the twin blasts.