Continuing its operations against al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), a team from the Delhi Police Special Cell on Wednesday arrested a cleric from Bengaluru.

According to sources, Maulana Anzarshah Qasmi (50) a resident of Iliyasnagar in Banashankari 2nd Stage in Bengaluru South was arrested on charges of making hate speeches and having links with a terrorist organisation in Pakistan. He is believed to have been involved in financial transaction of the terrorist outfit.

According to sources, Qasmi was picked up from his friend’s house at 9.30 pm on Wednesday by a team of four officials who claimed to be from Anti Terrorist Squad. “He did not return till morning and we lodged a missing complaint with Kumaraswamy Layout police,” Qasim’s friend Asif told Deccan Herald.

Meanwhile, Qasmi was taken to Delhi on a transit remand and was produced before a magistrate there on Thursday. The court remanded him in police custody till January 20.
Qasmi was a cleric at a mosque in Banshankari and had moved to Iliyasnagar a month ago.

The central agencies had kept Qasmi under survelliance for his provocative speeches. The police suspect Qasmi was a close associate of Mohammad Abdul Rahman Katki, the cleric who was arrested for his suspected links with al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent. Katki was said to have links even with Bengaluru resident Kafeel Ahmed who was accused of driving a burning car into the Glasgow International Airport in 2007 and had died of burns later. Kafeel too was a resident of Karisandra in Banashankari 2nd Stage.

There are reports that another Bengaluru resident Jabbar, an autorickshaw driver, too was picked by the Delhi Police on Wednesday night.