A former member of the banned organisation Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), against whom a Lookout Circular had been issued, was arrested while trying to leave the country.
A senior police officer, known to the case, said that the man named Mohammad Faiz, a resident of Khuda Daadpur village of Azamgarh, had reached the Varanasi airport to board a Sharjah-bound flight. While going through the security check, the immigration officer, checking his passport found out that he was a former member of SIMI and had been barred from leaving the country.
A LOC had been issued against him in 2001.
Immigration in-charge Kundan said, “Faiz was taken into custody by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and handed over to the Azamgarh police.”
Faiz, who is accused of being a sleeper cell of a terror module in 2001 was sent to jail on Monday after a case was registered against him by Azamgarh police.
Inspector at Nizamabad police station, Yogendra Bahadur Singh said, “A case has been registered under sections 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using a forged document as genuine) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 8 of the Notaries Act against Faiz for forgery and hiding facts about a sedition case registered against him in 2001.”
A case was registered against Faiz in 2001, under section 153 (intent to cause riot), 153A (promoting enmity), 153 B (imputations, assertions, prejudicial to national integration) and 505 (statement conducing to public mischief) of the IPC against him.
DIG Azamgarh (range), Vijay Bhushan, confirmed that the preliminary investigation revealed that Faiz went to Saudi Arabia and worked as a tailor between 2015 and 2016. He raised his concerns regarding the laxity on the part of the police officers saying that “A probe has been ordered to find out as to how he managed to go to Saudi Arabia in 2015-16 despite a ban on his visits outside the country,” Bhushan said, adding that he would find as to why his passport was not seized despite a LOC against him.
Azamgarh SP Babloo Kumar has been given the responsibility of carrying out a probe into the role of local cops after it came to light that Faiz ducked the lookout notice to visit Saudi Arabia in 2015-16 and work as a tailor. “The superintendent of police will submit a report within a fortnight and cops would be taken to task for failing to impound Faiz’s passport,” said DIG Azamgarh Vijay Bhushan.
