By IANS
Bangalore : Dropping of terror charges against Bangalore doctor Muhammad Haneef by Australia has come as a relief not only for his family but to the Karnataka government as well.
"I am greatly relieved," Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy told reporters here Friday reacting to news from Australia that charges against Haneef had been dropped and he has been released from a detention centre and put under house detention.
"This proves that Bangalore is not linked to terror," the chief minister said.
The detention of Haneef in Brisbane and his doctor cousin Sabeel Ahmed in Liverpool on July 2 in connection with failed British terror plot had come as a shock to the government as well as the people.
There was fear that Brand Bangalore would take a hit because of the suspected link to international terror.
"Bangalore has not become a base for terrorists," Kumaraswamy said responding to questions on the city being a safe haven for setting up sleeper cells by terror groups.
Though charges against Haneef have been dropped, Sabeel Ahmed now faces trial in Britain on charges of having information about the plot but not informing police about it.
His elder brother Kafeel Ahmed is believed to the person who drove a petrol-filled jeep into Glasgow airport terminal June 30, a day after London police found two Mercedes Benz cars filled with explosives in the city.
Police investigation into Kafeel, a mechanical engineer doing PhD in Cambridge, has led them to a high memory hard disc which contains literature on Al Qaeda, its leader Osama bin Laden and jihad literature.