The two suspected Lashkar-e-Tayyaba operatives whose claimed arrest from Tughlaqabad Extension in South Delhi was described by Union home minister P. Chidamabaram as “a very important breakthrough” and had complimented the security agencies for it have been identified. They are Tauseef Ahmed Pir and his cousin Ahtisham Ahmed Malik, both residents of Sopore, a town 48-km northwest of Srinagar.
Delhi police officials had given only brief details about the case on Wednesday and also withheld their names saying that it could hamper the investigations as the operation was still continuing to arrest more terrorists of the module. But the mother of one of the youth has not only disclosed the identities of the duo but also claimed that one of them was arrested from Hazari Bagh, Jharkhand and the other from Patna. She also claimed they were “innocent” and had been implicated in “a false case”.
Tauseef’s mother Mehbooba Begum said her son was recently sent to Jharkhand to pursue his studies and was likely to be admitted to a local school shortly.
She also said that Tauseef, who was studying in Class 12 in a Sopore school, was seized by the J&K police’s SOG from a local store where he worked as a part-time sales assistant on January 28, 2012 but was released the next morning. “He was again arrested by the SOG on January 30, severely beaten in custody and when released his condition was very bad,” she said. She also claimed that when the police officials were asked why he had been detained twice they said he was to be questioned in an alleged misuse of SIM card case.
“Keeping in view the situation in Kashmir and feeling concerned about his safety we decided to send him to Jharkhand to study. The choice was made for the simple reason that my brother has been living there in Hazari Bagh with his family for quite some time,” she said.
Another cousin of Ahtisham’s, identified as Taufeeq Ahmed Pir, has also been arrested by the security agencies from Jharkhand.