Two of Three men arrested by Anti-Terrorism Squad in Gujarat Last week, in connection with the alleged Raisin terror plot, they were teaching Hafiz courses at the same school in Muzaffarnagar in UP.
While the men’s families claimed the men were innocent, police said the accused were planning attacks using deadly poison and were scouting out potential targets – including the RSS office in Lucknow, the agricultural produce market committee in Azadpur, Delhi, and the fruit market in Naroda. The ATS had arrested the trio – Dr. Ahmed Mohiuddin Sayed (35 years old) from Hyderabad; Azad Suleiman Sheikh, 20, from Shamli; and Mohammed Sohail (23 years old) from Lakhimpur Khiri – on November 8. Senior officials said they were trying to produce ricin.
Azad is a resident of Janjhana in Shamli. His elder brother, Shezad Saifi, who works as a construction worker in Sonepat, told The Indian Express: “Before Covid, Azad was studying in a school in Budhana in Muzaffarnagar. During the lockdown, the school was closed so I took him with me to Sonepat, where he did odd jobs – repairing sewing machines etc. Once the school reopened, he went back to his studies.”
About two months ago, his family said, Azad returned from the group’s trip to West Bengal; He went with 12 others. “On November 7, he said he was going to school… On November 8… I received a phone call from a police officer in Gujarat about Azad’s arrest.”
“There must be some misunderstanding…” he added.
The family said they were aware that Sohail was also studying in the same school.
Sohail from Negasan Lakhimpur Khairi. “About three years ago, when the Covid situation improved, Sohail joined the school in Muzaffarnagar to pursue Hafiz studies,” his father Muhammad Saleem said. Saleem said that the family did not know about Sohail’s arrest until they received a call from the police. He denied his son’s involvement in any illegal activities, saying: “…he last returned home in June and returned to school a few days later.” He said they do not know how his son reached Ahmedabad, nor do they know anything about Azad.
“They (the family) are simple people… I have no knowledge of the case in which Saleem’s son has been booked,” Mohammad Qayyum, president of Singhai Nagar Panchayat in Lakhimpur Kheri, told The Indian Express.
(Tags for translation)Ricin terrorist plot
