PM name on Qaeda suspects’ list: NIA

The arrested trio was identified as Ayub Khan, Mohammed Abbas Ali and Abdul Kareem. Police claimed that while Ayub and Kareem, both from Pudhur, were reportedly picked up from near a mosque, Abbas was nabbed in his house at DRO Colony here. Sources also claimed that guns and explosives were seized from them during a raid conducted on places mentioned by them besides a detailed map to kill 22 leaders, including PM Modi. 

After the raids the trio were taken to Mysore by NIA team. Those arrested on Monday were allegedly involved in five court explosion cases and six cases of sending threat mails to embassies. Sources said that the NIA had kept a close watch on the three suspects for over a week before picking them up. The trio were active on FB posting messages in support of ‘jihad’. 

The NIA had been tracking the contents uploaded by the trio on the FB for several weeks and confirmed their identity before rounding them up. Shailesh Kumar Yadav, CoP, Madurai, claimed that only Abbas Ali was arrested while the other two have only been detained. Abbas Khan was reportedly linked to the Mysore Court explosion case. However, he refused to divulge the details further claiming that he was in no way part of the investigation. Amid this drama, sources at Jamaath claimed that one more person identified as Aashiq Rahman was also picked up by the police, but there was no information about him. They had planned to do a secret interrogation with him. Hence, the police have not revealed any information about Aashiq. 

The trio arrested by NIA were friends of Rahman, claimed sources. Parents of the three youth, who were nabbed by the NIA, claim that their wards were not terrorists. Mohammed Taslim, father of Ayub Khan, claimed that his son was innocent and was not linked to terrorist activities. Meanwhile, Ayub had called his father over phone and had informed that he has been arrested by a police team.