By Imran Khan, IANS
Patna : The father of suspected Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militant Sabauddin Ahmad alias Sallahudin alias Farhan, who was arrested for his alleged involvement in an attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp in Uttar Pradesh, wants him to be punished in accordance with the law.
Sabauddin, along with five other suspected LeT members, was arrested last week from Lucknow for his alleged involvement in an attack on a CRPF camp in Rampur on Jan 1 in which seven personnel of the paramilitary force as well as one civilian were killed.
He is also suspected to have been involved in the terrorist attack on the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore in which an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) professor was killed.
The suspected LeT militant’s family lives in Gandhwar village of Bihar’s Madhubani district, about 200 km from here.
Sabauddin’s father, Shabbir Ahmad, told IANS: “He should be punished as per the law of the country if he was involved in any alleged terror plot because by doing so he played with the honour of his country as well as that of his family.”
Shabbir, who is in his 60s, Wednesday said he was extremely saddened to hear that his son has been arrested for his alleged involvement in terror attacks.
According to him, a team of police officials Sunday night raided his house, conducted a search for a few minutes and inquired about Sabauddin. After that they said that he had been arrested for his alleged involvement in a terrorist attack.
“It was a bad night for us, my wife Shagufta Bano fell unconscious after hearing the police say our son was arrested for having terror links. All of us are very ashamed,” he said.
Shabbir, who is an elected member of the Gandhwar village council, says honour and respect are more important to him than his son.
He said: “I sold ancestral farmlands to educate Sabauddin with the hope that he will make a mark in the world. It was beyond my imagination that my son would become a terrorist.”
Sabauddin is the eldest of Shabbir’s three sons and two daughters. The suspected terrorist is married and has two children.
Shabbir denied media reports that he and his wife along with other family members fled the village after the news of his son’s arrest spread.
“It is not true that we left the village. I had taken my wife to the nearby town of Darbhanga for treatment. She has been unwell ever since she heard about Sabauddin’s arrest,” he said.