The Jamia Teachers' Solidarity Association, a New Delhi-based organisation of university teachers and students, on Tuesday slammed the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) for its probe in the July 13, 2011, blasts and pinpointed loopholes in it. It also criticised the Delhi Police for not standing by their “informer” Naquee Ahmed Wasi Ahmed, who was picked up by the Maharashtra ATS as a suspect in the case.
“Does the Commissioner of Delhi Police feel no moral and ethical compulsion to officially and formally state the simple truth that Naquee was helping his department in their investigation?” a note issued by the JTSA on Tuesday stated.
The Maharashtra ATS on Monday announced that it had achieved a breakthrough in the case and arrested three persons including a suspect whose custody is yet to be transferred to the ATS. Three persons, including fugitive Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative Yasin Bhatkal, have been shown as wanted.
ATS chief and Additional Director General of Police Rakesh Maria had, on Monday, claimed bonhomie between the Delhi Police and the ATS, but The Hindu has in its possession a letter written by Naquee's uncle to the Mumbai Police Commissioner around 10 days ago stating that the ATS team had virtually put Naquee's brothers under house arrest claiming that they were protecting them from the Delhi police team which was then in the city.
“They have confined his brothers in their own factory in Byculla on the pretext that they are trying to protect them from the Delhi police,” a family member said on condition of anonymity.
“It is unbelievable to hear that the ATS will protect us from the Delhi Police,” Naquee's uncle Umar Farooq has written in the letter.
“These officers are staying with us from 11/1/12 and now they are asking him to sleep in the office of the ATS. This makes me more thoughtful and my family members insecure,” the letter states.
The note issued by the JTSA has also raised the issue. It stated, “We saw the ATS team in Delhi grilling Naquee's brother about what the Special Cell knew — about what he heard Naquee telling the Special Cell. If the two agencies are so friendly, should they not be sharing information rather than harassing and hounding family members? Why has the ATS been after Naquee's brother?”
The organisation claimed that the Maharashtra ATS “pounced upon” Naquee soon after he was “abandoned” by the Delhi police after their probe was completed in the city.
Mr. Maria had said that the ATS has recovered the clothes of the arrested accused Naqee (22) and Nadeem Akhtar Ashfaq Sheikh (23) from the sealed room in the Habib mansion at Byculla. The organisation has questioned how the ATS came to this conclusion without any DNA analysis or forensic report.
It claimed that the two were picked up on January 9, and not on January 12, as stated by Mr. Maria. But Mr. Maria on Tuesday reiterated that the two were arrested on January 12 from Wadala where they had met.
“The ATS boss says that Naquee had been visiting Mumbai's Madanpura area since September-October 2010. Would he explain why the last two of those trips were made in the company of the Delhi Police Special Cell? And may it be said that Naquee was not brought to Mumbai under detention or arrest,” the note remarked.
“Old ploy”
The organisation said the ATS claim that two recovered motorbikes had been stolen for future use, was an old ploy used by the police. “If indeed those bikes are stolen, then book Naquee and Nadeem for theft, Chief, not under UAPA [Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act],” it said.
