By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
Belgavi (Karnataka): The editor of an Urdu daily ‘Salamati’ has been arrested from Kalaburgi for suspected terror links after a vendor of the daily allegedly disclosed to the police that the editor asked him to film critical locations in Karnataka, including airports and tourist spots.
A Judicial Magistrate First Class court in Belagavi, on Monday, remanded Ejaz Ahmed Bihari in police custody for seven days.
Bihari is one of the four picked up in Kalaburgi following the arrest of Mohammed Hussein Ali Qureshi by the Belagavi police here last week, who was caught videographing vital installations at the airport in Sambra, 11 km from the city.
Qureshi has also been remanded in judicial custody for 14 days and sent to the Hindalga Central Prison.
As of now, both have been booked on the charge of sedition under Section 124-A of the Indian Penal Code.
While Bihari was finally arrested, police let go other three journalists: Javed, photojournalist, Akbar, copywriter, and Hyder Bhagban who is said to be a partner in the newspaper. The relatives of these persons were asked to come to the police station and sign a few papers before the three were released on the condition that they should be present in the police station whenever summoned.
According to the police, it was editor Ejaz, who had hired the services of Qureshi to videograph airports, central bus stations, railway stations and other vital instalations in different parts of Karnataka.
Accordingly, Qureshi, who worked as a vendor for a Urdu newspaper run by Bihari, videographed 36 points in Bagalkot, Belagavi, Bengaluru, Hubballi-Dharwad, Gadag, Kalaburagi, Mysuru, and Vijayapura, including the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru, palace in Mysuru, and Suvarna Vidhana Soudha and Visvesvaraya Technological University in Belagavi.
However, police have not yet disclosed the association of the duo with any particular terror organisation.
According to Costaldigest Ejaz Bihari originally came to Kalaburagi to pursue his engineering course and later settled down there after his marriage to a local girl. His “affluent” lifestyle has come as a surprise to the police officials as the income from the newspaper, of which he was the editor, was very limited. He was also paying good salaries to his employees. The financial dealings of Ejaz Bihari have now come under close scrutiny of the investigating agencies.
[ with inputs from Coastaldigest.com]