Assam man, having link to suspected Jihadi, surrenders before police

A man suspected of having links with Jihadi elements turned himself in to police in Lower Assam’s Barpeta district on August 2. This comes amid the state police force’s relentless crackdown on terror elements after a Madrassa teacher in Morigaon district was nabbed for alleged links to terror groups operating mainly out of Bangladesh.

Abu Bakkar Siddique, a resident of Joshihati Para near Howly Town in Barpeta, yesterday surrendered for a having ‘connection’ with a suspected Jihadi. ‘I have surrendered myself for proximity to a man named Saiful’, the man said upon being approached by scribes outside the Barpeta Sadar police station. Sofique Uddin AKA Saiful was arrested yesterday. Central investigating agencies, who are working in tandem with local police, are said to be investigating the surrendered accused.

Meanwhile, police in Assam have stepped up their efforts to bust the terror module operating in the state. In this regard, they are being aided by agencies such as the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Investigation Bureau (IB). In Barpeta alone, police have arrested 9 and detained one person, allegedly for suspected links to the terror group Ansar Ul Bangla Team (ABT). A team from the NIA reached Barpeta, seen as the hub of ‘anti-national activities' in the state, on July 26 last. Apart from Barpeta, arrests have also been made in Morigaon, Goalpara, and Guwahati.

According to Special DGP (Law and Order) Gyanendra Pratap Singh, the ABT cadre operating in Barpeta have links to the modules in Bhopal and Tripura. 

Mufti Mustafa managing the Jamiul Huda Madrasa in Soruchola village under the Moirabari Police Station limits was the first to be arrested on the intervening night of July 26 and 27. A computer shop owner Afsaruddin Bhuyan was apprehended the next day. The Mufti has been accused of showing questionable content to his students, curated by terror elements linked to Al-Qaeda. At least nineteen students taught by the Mufti were interrogated by police. Subsequently, several more arrests were made. In the aftermath, the Jamiul Madrasa has been sealed along with another one in Dhing in the Nagaon district of Assam for indulging in anti-national activities.

Although religious madrassas will continue to run in the state, Chief Himanta Biswa Sarma said, they will be put under the scanner for any trace of terror-related activities. The BJP-led state government has already withdrawn funding from government-funded madrassas with the aim of turning them into ‘regular schools.’