Karnataka   

Local landlords unaware of Pakistanis' antecedents and activities

Laiqh A. Khan

They had been staying in Mysore for four months

PHOTO: PTI

PRIZE CATCH: Karnataka DGP B.S. Sial shows the photos of suspected Pakistani terrorists arrested on Thursday night in Mysore at a press conference in Bangalore on Friday.

MYSORE: Though the two Pakistani nationals, who were arrested early on Friday for their alleged links with a terrorist outfit, had been living in Mysore and running a small business outlet for the past four months, the locals were unaware of their antecedents and activities.

Suvarna and her husband Ravi Kumar had rented out their single bedroom house on the second floor of the building in Rajiv Nagar 2nd Stage, 4th Cross, to the suspected militants for a monthly rent of Rs. 1,250 and collected an advance of Rs. 20,000.

The duo had been staying on the premises since August 17.

Ms. Suvarna said there was no interaction between them and her tenants, who spoke a "different type of Hindi."

Rarely seen

"We rarely used to see them. Though they had to pass their front door on the first floor to take the staircase to the second floor, they used to pull the curtain before they passed. They used to approach us only for drinking water. They used to keep a pot outside our door and gesticulate for drinking water," she said.

She said they had rented out their place to the two after they were introduced by a local merchant Khader, who runs a fancy store on the main road of Rajiv Nagar, 2nd Stage.

Ms. Suvarna said a couple of policemen had barged into her home about 20 days ago, looking for her tenants. "I have not seen my tenants ever since they were taken away by the police about three weeks ago," she said.

Visa status

After the police took them away, Ms. Suvarna and her husband approached Khader. But Mr. Khader apparently assured the landlords that they had nothing to worry as the police had taken them to seek clarification on their visa status.

Meanwhile, it was business as usual on Friday at the fancy store reportedly run by the two accused. Rafi, a youngster, who was attending to customers, told The Hindu that the arrested persons were no more than mere acquaintances of his boss Khader.

"They used to come here and be around. But, they do not run the business," he said.

Rafi claimed that Khader helped the two secure accommodation after they came in contact with him a couple of months ago.

First case in Mysore

Over the years, the security agencies have arrested people with alleged terrorist links from Bangalore, Gulbarga, Bidar and Kolar, but never in Mysore.

This is the first time Pakistani nationals with alleged terrorist connections were nabbed in Karnataka.

The plot by Al-Badr to attack Vikasa Soudha in Bangalore and the Central Institute of Indian Languages in Mysore comes barely a week after the National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan announced in Bangalore that the Karnataka capital was "certainly not high on the terrorist agenda."

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