Khalid's kin threaten to go on fast

Demand to see panel report

Family members of terror-accused Khalid Mujahid, who died in police custody, have demanded that a report by a panel which probed his arrest be made public by June 6, failing which they would go on a fast-unto-death.

“If the government does not make the report public by June 6, then we and our sympathisers will start a fast-unto-death in front of the Vidhan Bhawan in Lucknow,” said Zaheer Alam Falahi, Mujahid’s uncle.

Mujahid, an accused in a serial blasts case, died on May 18 while being taken to jail after a court hearing in Faizabad.

Falahi said although the government was talking about making the contents of the R D Nimesh Commission report public, he had no faith in its word.

The commission was constituted by the previous Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh to probe the arrests of Mujahid and another person, Tariq Kasmi, who were accused of having carried out blasts in Lucknow, Faizabad and Gorakhpur in 2007.

It had submitted its report to the Akhilesh Yadav government, which succeeded Mayawati, on August 31, 2012. Falahi said the fight was now not only for Mujahid, but for all those innocent Muslim youths who are in jail on false charges.

He demanded that only CBI be appointed to probe his nephew’s death and not the state police as it may destroy evidence related to the incident.

Meanwhile, a high-level committee comprising the UP home secretary and the additional director general of police on Saturday started its investigation into Mujahid’s death.
Falahi demanded that Kasmi should now be immediately released along with Sajjad-ur-Rehman and Mohd Akhtar, two other terror accused, as there was a threat to their lives.