The Hindu : Karnataka News : Upset Kashmiris want to take the first train home

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Monday, Feb 04, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Upset Kashmiris want to take the first train home

Firoz Rozindar

Chitradurga: The conditional release of three Kashmiris, who were detained by the police, on Sunday has brought them relief.

On Friday, the police picked up Saif Ali (43) Mohammad Junaid (23) and his younger brother Imtiyaz Ahmed (16) for questioning. While Ali is from Rajouri district, the brothers are from Udhampur district.

The police said they had been detained following a complaint by a few people who had become suspicious about their movements.

While the police said that they were picked up on Friday, the detainees maintained that they were taken into custody four days ago.

Speaking to The Hindu after their release, Junaid said that the police had released them on the condition that they stayed in the city for another three days till the verification was over.

“They told us that they have sent our details to the Kashmir police for verification. After the clarification, they said we would be released.”

Superintendent of Police Labhu Ram confirmed that the police could not lay their hands on anything that strengthened their suspicion. However, they had been asked to stay here for three more days.

Describing their experience, Saif said: “We will never come to this place again.” Thanking God for the release, he said he wanted to talk to his family in Kashmir.

The Kashmiris said they did not know why they were kept in the police station for four days. “The police did not tell us anything, and never allowed us to speak to our relatives,” he said.

“We want the catch the first train home,” Junaid said.

“We never knew that coming here would land us in such trouble,” Junaid said.

Meanwhile, Sadiqullah, advocate and trustee of Horapete mosque, said that people coming to Chitradurga to seek donations was nothing new.

On the detention, he said the mosque committee was not against questioning of people, provided the police consulted the local representatives of any mosque before detaining anyone. “This would prevent innocent people from suffering,” he said.

Girish Pattanashetti reports from Dharwad:

Mohammed Asif, the final year MBBS student of Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) who is under police scanner for his association with terror suspect Asadullah Abubakar, was handed over to sleuths of Corps of Detectives (CoD) here on Sunday.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (CoD) S.S. Koth and other officials took Mohammed Asif into custody at the Vidyagiri police station on Sunday and began his interrogation.

It might be recalled that the local court had permitted Hubli-Dharwad police to keep Asif in their custody till February 7 for interrogation

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