By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
Pune: The family members of Ajaz Shaikh (27 years), allegedly an Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative arrested on Saturday from Saharanpur of Uttar Pradesh have objected to his arrest and alleged that the Delhi Special Cell is falsely implicating him in terror cases across the country. They claimed that Delhi police is framing and branding him terrorist only because he is brother-in-law of Mohsin Chowdhary, who is allegedly IM member absconding since October 2008.
With the arrest of Ajaz, Delhi special cell is claiming to have cracked case of threatening email allegedly sent during Jama Masjid blast (2010) and Shitala Ghat blast in Varanasi (2010). AJaz is also being accused of involvement in Pune German Bakery blasts (2010).
![Press conference held by Ajaz Shaikh’s family on 18 February 2014 [Courtesy: Beyondheadlines]](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3871/14993899570_2b2ffb7563_z.jpg)
Press conference held by Ajaz Shaikh’s family on 18 February 2014 [Courtesy: Beyondheadlines]
Seen from left to right are Pune action committee president Zahid Bhai, Chhawa Yuva Sanghatna’s Baba Saheb Patil, Haleema Shaikh, Sayeed Shaikh, Ramesh Rakshe, national secretary of ‘Bharat Mukti Morcha’ and Anjum Inamdar, president of Rashtrapremi Samiti
Ajaz is a B.Com graduate who was working with a business process outsourcing (BPO) company in Kharadi area of Pune and had gone missing since February 2014 after he went for interview to Bangalore.
His family said that he had no criminal or terror cases registered against him and lashed out at the police for accusing him to be an IM operative. The family claims that Ajaz was living with them in Pune till February 2014 during the time of which he was questioned and mentally tortured by security agencies on several occasions to get information on Mohsin but he was never arrested as he is innocent and is not involved in any terror related activities.
Family members are also surprised with the allegation of Ajaz’s involvement in German Bakery blasts and other blasts that happened in 2010 because before he went missing in February 2014 he was earlier interrogated many times by different agencies of the country and such revelation never came to light then; but soon after he was traced allegedly in Saharanpur, Delhi special cell claims his involvement in terror activities.
Ajaz had left home on February 15, saying he had a job interview in Bangalore. When he did not return, his parents lodged a missing person’s complaint with the Khadaki police station in Pune on February 19 and had also sought help of anti-terrorism squad (ATS) in tracing him. His family had as well arranged a press conference on July 18 claiming that Shaikh had left home because of debts and not because of any links with the IM.
In a press conference on 19 February Ajaz’s mother Haleema (60 years) had appealed, “My son is not a Terrorist. He went missing from home trying to evade bank officials as he is unable pay back his loan of Rs 3 lakh. He has no connection with any terrorist group. Don’t brand him a terrorist”
“Just because one person in the house is alleged to have IM links doesn’t mean that our entire household is filled with terrorists and every tragedy in our family has a link to terrorist activity,” she had added.
Ajaz’s father, Sayeed Abdul Qadar Shaikh (62 years) had said that about 20-25 days after Ajaz went missing, some banks’ loan recovery agents started coming to his house.
“From the agents we learnt that Ajaz had taken personal loan of Rs 2.3 lakh from HDFC bank, Rs 89,000 outstanding amount on HDFC credit card and Rs 16,000 outstanding amount on SBI credit card. He had also withdrawn Rs 14,000 cash from credit card in January 2013 saying his mother was ill, which is not true. We didn’t know that he has cheated banks as agents said that some cheques for installments were dishonoured in the past. At time of his marriage, he had taken loan of Rs 1.5 lakh from his friends, which I had repaid. Therefore, we believe that he left home due to these debts,” Sayeed had explained the circumstances.
On terrorism allegations against Ajaz, the family had said that Ajaz’s sister married Mohsin Chaudhary in 2001, who has been absconding since 2008.
“Since then we have not heard of Chaudhary nor has he contacted us. Meanwhile, Ajaz completed his B.Com and some computer courses. He worked with BPOs. He mixed with people from all religions and never had hatred against any. He was married about a year ago,” Sayeed had said during press conference.
Now after the arrest of Ajaz by Delhi special cell was reported by media, Ajaz’s father Saeed Shaikh told TOI, “Six months after Shaikh went missing; we now got to know from the media that he has been arrested. The Delhi police are not giving us any further information despite repeated calls”.
“My son may have left home due to debts of over Rs 3 lakh, including credit card dues of Rs 90,000 and loan of Rs 2.3 lakh, and not because of any links with a terror outfit. My family has not been in touch with Mohsin since 2008,” he added.
Ajaz Shaikh’s brother in law Mohsin Chaudhary – allegedly IM operative absconding since 2008
Ajaz’s brother, Imtiaz Shaikh, said the family had visited Bangalore, pasted posters and distributed leaflets to trace Shaikh. “We had also visited hospitals and contacted his friends, relatives and the Bangalore police, but we did not get any information. His wife and our sister delivered a son 18 days after he had gone missing,” he said.
Activist Azhar Tamboli, who is helping the family, said that the local police and the ATS had not conducted proper investigations into the missing person’s complaint. “We strongly suspect that Shaikh was picked up by the security agency and implicated in a false case. We are planning to move the Bombay high court to transfer the investigations to an independent agency like the National Investigation Agency or the Central Bureau of Investigation as we do not trust the special cell,” he said.
Anjum Inamdar, president of the NGO Rashtra Premi Samiti, who also works for the cause of innocent Muslim youths, implicated in false cases, said, “Shaikh was in Pune and interrogated on numerous occasions by the local police as well as the ATS, but his interrogation did not reveal anything. This makes us believe that he is innocent,” adding, “I have talked with the officials of Jamiat Ulema Hindi, Mumbai, and they have agreed to appoint Supreme Court lawyer Mehmood Paracha to defend Shaikh”.
TCN had earlier reported that in March 2014 home of Mohsin Chaudhary that is jointly owned by his in laws, was sealed by Delhi police due to which his family including old parents, wife and two school going children were left to sleep on the roads. Reportedly Jamiat Ulema is helping the family to appeal the Delhi court’s order of sealing their only home.
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IM suspects property attached, family left homeless, Jamiat comes in support