By IANS,
Lucknow : Family members of about a dozen terror suspects hailing from Uttar Pradesh Thursday assembled in front of the state assembly here and demanded an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the incidents allegedly involving their kin.
They assembled under the banner of National Alliance for People’s Movements and claimed that innocent people were randomly picked up by the police.
“The STF (Special Task Force) sleuths came to my house and took my son, Farhan Ahmed Khan, for questioning on March 3, 2004. He was studying at home when the cops came and a couple of days later, he was accused of possessing two hand grenades,” Farhan’s father Ansar Ahmed told IANS.
Farhan was picked up from the Rajajipuram locality of Lucknow and is currently serving a term of 30 years in the Lucknow district jail for his alleged involvement in anti-national activities.
“I visit him twice every week and hatred is visible in the eyes of all the jail staff,” Ahmed added.
Farhan failed to clear his Class 10 examination that year and was preparing to take the test again through distant learning when he was arrested, he added.
Similar woes were shared by Sher Ali, son of Jang Bahadur who was arrested Feb 9 this year for his alleged involvement in the Rampur Central Reserve Police Force camp attack during the intervening night of Dec 31-Jan 1.
“My father owned a small tyre puncture repair shop. Late Feb 9 night, some people in plain clothes came to our house and asked him to repair their vehicle. They took him away and the next day, we came to know that they were STF people and my father was declared a terrorist,” said Sher Ali.
Ali claimed his father was not involved in the incident and that during the New Year celebrations the CRPF troopers got drunk, and while firing in the air, killed each other.
Similarly, Abu Zaid, the younger brother of Abu Bashar who was arrested last month from the state capital for his alleged involvement in the Ahmedabad serial blasts, claimed that he has been wrongly framed.
“Bhai jan (Bashar) is slightly mentally unstable and does not know how to operate a mobile phone. He used to give tuitions to students of primary school children to earn a living. The police broke into our house in Sanjarpur village and took him away,” said Zaid.
Later, he was shown to be present in Lucknow and the police claimed to have arrested him from near the Charbagh railway station.
The relative of another alleged terrorist, Mohammad Khalid, who was arrested, refutes the police claim that a huge cache of RDX was recovered last December from him.
“We are natives of Madiyahoon village of Jaunpur. The cops picked him on December 16 from our village and later he was shown to be arrested from Barabanki district on December 22. The cops also claimed that he possessed RDX and wasb involved in anti-national activities,” Mohammad Zaheer Alam claimed.
“All of us demand a CBI inquiry into all these incidents. The governments (central and state) are involved in face-saving tactics after every terror activity and are framing innocent people”, said Sandeep Pandey, national coordinator of NAPM and Magsaysay Award winner.