By IANS
Bangalore : The Karnataka government Thursday decided to place under close watch all foreign students in Bangalore even as speculation intensified on whether Kafeel Ahmed who drove an explosive laden car to Glasgow airport was related to Sabeel Ahmed, detained in Britain in connection with the incident.
The nameplate at the gate of Sabeel's parents' house in Banashankari in Bangalore sports the name of Kafeel Ahmed besides Sabeel. The name of the daughter, Sadia, is third. But Sabeel's parents, both doctors like Sabeel, had on Wednesday stoutly denied that Kafeel involved in the Glasgow incident is their son.
At the same time, the doctor couple, Maqbool Ahmed and Zakhia Ahmed, had refused to give details about his whereabouts.
On Thursday, the doctors declined to meet or answer phone calls, unlike Wednesday when they, particularly Zakhia Ahmed, had freely spoken to the media after initial reluctance.
Meanwhile, one Kafeel Ahmed passed out of an engineering college in Davangere in Karnataka with fifth rank in the year 2000. The college authorities could not say whether their student and the Kafeel who drove the car bomb at Glasgow Saturday were one and the same.
Bangalore city police chief N. Achyut Rao maintained Thursday that neither the Indian government nor British or Australian authorities had sought their help but they were gathering information on both Mohammed Haneef, detained in Brisbane, Australia, and Sabeel on their own. Sabeel and Haneef are distant cousins.
Rao also said he could not confirm whether Kafeel, who suffered 90 percent burns when the car he drove exploded at Glasgow airport entrance, is related to Sabeel.
The information on close watch on all foreign students in Bangalore was given by state Home Minister M.P. Prakash who said the government had taken seriously reports that the IT capital may have become a safe haven for terror operatives and their effort to indoctrinate and recruit people into their plot.