Terror suspect had no direct link with IS: Cops

LUCKNOW: Saifullah, the “self radicalised” terror accused involved in

Ujjain train blast

, was shot dead on Wednesday morning after a 12-hour long police operation on Lucknow outskirts. An

IS

flag along with a huge sachet of arms, ammunition, pipe bomb components and a railway map of India were recovered from the room where he was holed up. Police claimed Saifullah was a self- proclaimed IS operative and a directed link with the international terror outfit was yet to be established.

Saifullah’s father Sartaj, a resident of Kanpur, later refused to accept his son’s body claiming that he no longer accepts him as his son. Sartaj was convinced that his son was involved in anti-national activities after Saifullah’s brother, at the behest of the police, called him up and asked him to surrender when the operation was under way. Under strong influence of the IS, Saifullah refused point blank and said he would prefer ‘shahdat’ (martyrdom) instead.

The influence of terror outfits on Saifullah could be gauged from the fact that police recovered a total of eight pistols from his hideout apart from 630 lives cartridges apart from 71 shells apparently of the bullets that he fired at the police during the operation. Police also recovered pages of Saifullah’s diary where he has scribbled his time table including timings of offering prayers six times a day including the one offered before sunrise.

Police recovered three passports from the room including that of Saifullah and his associates Danish and Atish. While Saifullah's passport had no entry on it, visa stamps suggested that Danish had travelled to UAE in the past. Cash and some Riyals (Saudi Arabia currency) was recovered from the room.

Police said investigations so far have not thrown up any tangible evidence to suggest that Saifullah and three of his aides who have been rounded up from Kanpur and Etawah, were in touch with any of the international terror outfits. “There is nothing to suggest that they were trained or radicalised by any outfit outside India,” said additional director general of police (law and order) Daljeet Chaudhary adding that the group had apparently got together on their own and learnt the art of putting together law intensity “improvised explosive devices” (IEDs) from internet using items of daily use or those readily available in the market.

The police said three members of the group arrested by the Madhya Pradesh ATS for the Ujjain train blast also belong to UP and had given details of their associates on the basis of which Faisal Khan and Imran were arrested from Kanpur, Faqre Alam from Etawah while Saifullah was neutralized in Lucknow. “Interrogation of those arrested in MP have not revealed anything that could suggest that the group was in touch with the IS in any manner,” said a senior officer.

Police operations in UP started on Tuesday a couple of hours after some specific leads from MP ATS following the arrest of Danish Akhtar and Atish Muzaffar of Kanpur and Sayed Meer of Aligarh in connection with the Ujjain train blast earlier in the day. Though the UP ATS was quick to round up Faisal and Faqre Alam, their crackdown at Saifullah’s hideout in Thakurganj lasted 12 hours.