By IANS
Hyderabad : The alleged kingpin of the human trafficking racket, in which several MPs and legislators are said to be involved, surrendered before police here Thursday.
Mohammed Rasheed Ali, a travel agent and resident of Malakpet area here, surrendered at the Central Crime Station (CCS) of the Crime Branch after several days of evading arrest.
He told reporters at CCS that he was innocent and had decided to surrender as he was receiving threatening calls from political leaders.
“I will tell everything in the court and I hope that police will protect me.”
Rasheed’s name came up during investigations in the trafficking scandal, which came to light on April 18 after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Babubhai Katara was arrested at Delhi airport while trying to smuggle out a woman and a boy to Toronto on the passports of his wife and son.
Two people arrested in Delhi in connection with the case had revealed that Rasheed played a key role in the racket.
His surrender is seen as a major breakthrough in the case, allegedly involving several leaders of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS). Following the development, police have begun the hunt for other suspects.
TRS rebel legislator Kasipeta Lingaiah, who is also in police custody for obtaining a passport for a woman masquerading as his wife, had claimed that he had applied for the passport through Rasheed.
After evading arrest for few days, Lingaiah had surrendered before a court here on April 27.
Another TRS rebel legislator S. Bapurao, who went into hiding four days ago after his name cropped up during investigations, came overground Thursday in his native Adilabad district and admitted meeting Rasheed through a middleman.
Bapurao, who is also accused of obtaining passports for a Gujarati woman and two children in the names of his wife and two children, claimed that he had applied for passports for his ‘wife’ and ‘children’ through Rasheed.
Claiming to be innocent, Bapurao alleged that TRS president K. Chandrasekhara Rao had hatched a conspiracy to implicate him for turning against his leadership.
Names of other TRS leaders have also come up during investigations. TRS suspended its MP A. Narendra from the party last week after allegations that he misused passports of two party MPs to illegally send some people abroad.