In the last couple of days news of three students being arrested by the COD for questioning has caught the attention of people from across the state. Though the authenticity of the news remains in question, it has undoubtedly remained top of everybody’s mind. The public and the police have largely remained confused about the whole episode and while some of them have been scared about the possible repercussions in the event that this may just be true, others have found the whole episode serious fodder for gossip.
The Honnalla police in Davangere district that nabbed two alleged terrorists Riyazuddin and Asadulla and the Anti terrorism Cell and COD who have managed to penetrate their network consider this angle a good joke and nothing but idle gossip according to highly placed sources.
According to media reports the terror trail from Honnalla spread to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangaldesh and has now entered Tumkur. This is a common joke cracked by the police personnel with their media friends.
When Deccan Herald contacted SP Dr P S Harsha about the alleged arrest of three students from Tumkur this is what the senior official had to say “ I have spoken to the DIG of COD and asked him if anybody from Tumkur had been arrested with regard to the terror trail, but he categorically refused and wanted to know if we had arrested anybody as reported by the media. I would like to make it clear that no student has been arrested and any such reports are false.”
The five team of COD that has been investigating the matter have also helD discussions amongst themselves to confirm that no students have been picked up by them as reported by the media.
Fabricated
The only job that this fabricated report has done is to entertain the public to some extent.
Sources in the COD department, Special Police force task, State and Central intelligence sources have categorically denied that any of their teams of visited Tumkur with regard to the terror trail.
However the officials also cannot confirm that there are no terror activities in Tumkur. After the discoveries in Honnalla, the police have been keenly watching out for any suspicious activities. There are daily reports being sent by the intelligence department.
The two arrested are also said to have links to the dreaded SIMI organisation and were able to provide vital clues about the attack on IISc in Bangalore.
They also revealed that SIMI had a network in various engineering colleges across Dharwad, Davangere, Belgaum, Hubli and other parts of the state.
The COD is already to interrogate students who have participated in the meetings held by SIMI. Since the number of students from outside the state and country are large in number in the various engineering and medical colleges in Tumkur, it is but natural that police are on a look out for anything out of the ordinary.
Tumkur already has history when petrol bombs and gelatin were recovered here in the 90s.
However the sensitive areas in the city which may be a hub for terror activities are prime vote banks and two influential legislators are still doing the math about any action against these places. However they seem to have forgotten that national security should be the most important priority for every Indian.