Cops raid absconding HuJI militant’s house
The Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of the Uttar Pradesh police on Wednesday raided the house of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) militant Shamim in Chandauli district, hours after a powerful blast near the gate of the Delhi High Court in which 11 persons were killed and scores of others injured.
Although local police officials remained tight lipped, according to sources, an ATS team reached Nauda village in Chandauli district, about 310 km from here, and quizzed Shamim’s family members. “A few cell phones have been seized by the police from the house”, the sources added.
The sleuths swung into action immediately after the Bangladesh-based terror outfit claimed responsibility of the blast. Sources said that the officials wanted to examine the call details of the cell phones to ascertain whether Shamim had been in touch with his family members.
“Although Shamim’s family members said that he had not contacted them for a long time, we feel that he may have been in touch with them”', sources said quoting the officials.
Shamim, who was an accused in the 2006 blast at Sankat Mochan temple in Varanasi, has been absconding.
According to the officials, the ATS sleuths have also been looking at the possibility of a western UP connection to the Delhi blast. “The HuJI network is very much present in some western UP districts and its role in the blast can not be ruled out”, they said.
In the past also, the investigating agencies had unearthed Uttar Pradesh connections to the blasts that had occurred in different parts of the country. The mastermind of the Gujarat serial blast Abu Bashar was a resident of UP’s Azamgarh district, which is considered to the breeding ground of many a militant.
The district is also home to the members of the outlawed Students Islamic Movement of India and its chief Shahid Badra Falahi was also a resident of the district.
