Amid information provided by “informed sources” being telecast on television news channels and frantic calls by relatives and well-wishers, the parents and siblings of “terror suspects” arrested in Hubli and Bangalore were left baffled and shocked.
While many were still unaware of why their family members had been arrested by the police, the stories appearing on various news channels further perplexed them and pushed them into a state of shock.
“He is the third of the five brothers and the mildest of all. Journalism has been his passion. I returned from Dubai and we had gone on a tour. When we were in Bijapur, we received the news from a colleague of his that he had been taken away by the police for inquiry on Wednesday. Even now we don’t really know what is happening. We are shocked”, said Atha-ur-Rahman Siddiqui who is the eldest brother of journalist Muthi-ur-Rahman Siddiqui.
The last conversation he had with Mr. Muthi-ur-Rahman was on Tuesday night. “We have a small house at Bandiwad Base. I wanted to get it renovated and wanted to speak to him about it. He said it was difficult for him to get leave but would visit Hubli by Friday. I tried his number continuously on Wednesday evening but it was switched off. I cannot imagine Mr. Muthi-ur-Rahman doing all that that is being told on television. There must be some confusion, I will seek media help to get him out of all this,” said Mr. Atha-ur-Rahman Siddiqui.
In the absence of any official communication from the police, Mr Atha-ur-Rahman Siddiqui and his brother left for Bangalore on Thursday night.
Parents in tears
Saibuddin Bagalkot, whose son, Mehboob Bagalkot, was arrested by the police from his home at MD Colony at Yallapur Oni, burst into tears every time they were asked a question on the incident. Mr. Mehboob’s parents were not in town when he was arrested on Wednesday. They said that their son was just doing bar bending work for his livelihood.
Mr. Mehboob’s elder sister Zahida Begum said that when he was being taken away, the police officials told her not to worry as he was being taken away for questioning. However, the family members think that probably Mr. Mehboob’s arrest has got something to do with the renting out of the house Ms. Zahida Begum owned at Sonia Gandhi Nagar to some persons a while ago.
To a query, Ms. Zahida, who stays with her parents as her husband is mentally unstable, said that she had rented out the house to two persons on rent of Rs. 500 per month.
Cannot come to terms
S.R.S. Sholapur, Assistant Conservator of Forests, is still unable to come to terms with the fact that his son Zafar who was pursuing postgraduate degree in medicine in Bangalore was arrested by the police. Mr. Sholapur’s residence is hardly 50 metres away from Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar’s residence at New Badami Nagar in Hubli. In the wake of lack of any information about his son after the arrest, Mr. Sholapur left for Bangalore on Thursday afternoon.
Sarfaraj, a resident of Aroodh Nagar in Hubli, whose brother Wahid Hussain has been taken away for inquiry also has not received any information about him. But he is confident that his brother, who is pursuing MBA, has not done anything wrong.
Mohammed Zafar Bahadduri, the father of Imran alias Obedulla Bahadduri, also did not know why his son was arrested.
Mr. Imran, who completed technical course from NTTF in Dharwad, returned six months ago after working in the Gulf for two years. The other among the arrested are Sadiq Laskhar who used to work at construction sites. However, not much information is available.Meanwhile, the Hubli police were tight-lipped about the arrests saying that the whole operation was carried out by the Bangalore police.