A two-storey house located in the narrow lanes of Jaffrabad of east Delhi has a new address — ‘ Atankwadi ka Ghar ’ — as locals have started referring it after the early Wednesday morning police raid that ended after 14 hours at 6 p.m.
Anas and Mufti Mohammad Suhail were among the arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), in a joint operation with the Delhi police’s Special Cell and the Anti-Terrorist Squad of Uttar Pradesh, for their alleged link with an ISIS-inspired terror group. The group was allegedly planning suicide attacks and serial blasts targeting politicians and government installations in Delhi and other parts of north India.
Mohammad Younus, who has a plaster of Paris business, stays with his family — wife, daughter and son. At 4.30 a.m., at least 25 police personnel, including women SWAT commandos, NIA officers and Delhi policemen, entered the narrow lanes in Jaffrabad and knocked on his house.
“I heard a commotion outside Younus’s house, located opposite to my house. When I peeped from my window, I saw about 25 armed policemen wearing bulletproof jackets in the lane. A man wearing a black mask [Anas] was in police custody. A little later, all of them went inside Younus’s house,” said a neighbour, Faheem.
In shock
Faheem added that they were in shock after they got to know about Anas’s involvement in terror-related activities. Recalling his last interaction with Anas at a nearby masjid, he said, “Anas was an introvert. He was pursuing engineering from a college in Noida. Younus’s family has a good reputation in the locality. Younus was always concerned about his children’s future. His daughter has also applied for higher studies,” said Faheem.
The team left the house with Anas and four cartons of ‘documents’ recovered from his room.
Family members of another terror suspect, Mufti Mohammad Suhail, arrested from Amroha in Uttar Pradesh where he was preaching Quran at a madrasa, lives a few metres away from Anas’s house said that they cannot believe whatever has been told to them regarding their son.
“At 4.30 a.m., a group of policemen knocked on my gate. They searched the entire house and left after confiscating mobile phones of all family members,” said Mohammad Zubair, Suhail’s elder brother.
Zubair said that his brother can never be involved in terror activities. “He was fond of teaching and had shifted to Amroha around two months ago with his wife. He was teaching Quran at a madarsa in Amroha. My father is paralysed, he is unable to bear the shock. The policemen were polite with us,” said Zubair.
Meanwhile, the locals alleged that the police had framed the youth under terror charges. The police theory has many loopholes regarding the items recovered during the raid — firecrackers, clocks and countrymade weapon.
In May 2016, the Delhi Police Special Cell had picked up 13 youth, who are believed to be heavily influenced by the Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad, in raids at Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.
However, during investigation, 10 youth were set free and three were chargesheeted.
