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Cops face resistance from angry villagers

JAIPUR: The Special Investigation Team of Rajasthan police faced resistance by villagers when it detained a madrasa teacher at Udai Kalan in Sawai Madhopur district on Saturday in connection with Tuesday’s serial blasts in Jaipur. The 42-year-old detainee has been brought here for interrogation.

Despite the SIT’s suspicion of his links with the perpetrators of the crime, Mohammed Sajid bears no resemblance with any of the sketches released by the State police. He was the State president of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) before it was outlawed several years ago.

The SIT team which picked up Mr. Sajid from his home on early Saturday morning and brought him to Gangapur police station faced tough moments justifying its action to a 700-strong crowd that gathered outside the incarceration cell. The team could fetch him here only after assuring the villagers that the teacher would be put to a “routine questioning”.

Mr. Sajid, who runs the primary-level Ayesha Siddiqua Madrasa in Udai Kalan, is facing trial in Gujarat in connection with his participation in a controversial meeting at Surat in 2001. He was in jail for 11 months before his release on bail and he used to mark his regular attendance at Gangapur police station till a few years ago.

Udai Kalan Sarpanch Moin Ahmed, accompanied by Mr. Sajid’s relatives, arrived here on Sunday to meet the SIT officers and prove his innocence. They pointed out that the people belonging to all communities in the village approved of his good character and believed that he had no links with any terrorist outfit.

Mr. Sajid’s uncle, Absar Ahmed, told The Hindu that his nephew had left SIMI about 12 years ago, as the upper age limit for the group’s membership was 30 years. “His past association with SIMI cannot be treated as a basis for suspicion of his involvement in the Jaipur bombings,” he said.

Mr. Ahmed said he met his nephew at the interrogation centre here and found him exhausted after his rigorous questioning. “The SIT officers told us that they would release Mr. Sajid after confirming the call details of his brother’s mobile phone which he was using,” he said.

Even as the SIT’s probe into the carnage did not seem to make a significant headway, there were reports that two other persons were also picked up from Sawai Madhopur district and one from Fatehpur in Sikar district for questioning. None of the detainees has been formally arrested so far.

Police have also brought here Madhukar Mishra, owner of the cyber café in Sahibabad, from where some suspects had sent an e-mail to media organisations claiming that they had carried out the explosions. The sketches of the suspects are being prepared on the basis of his description.

According to the police sources, the investigators believe that even though the blasts were planned elsewhere, the bombs were fabricated in Jaipur with their ingredients obtained locally. Though the SIT has located the shops from where the suspected terrorists purchased cycles to carry bombs, the places from where the bomb material was procured are yet to be discovered.

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