The Uttar Pradesh ATS team recently nabbed a Bangladeshi student staying at Darul Uloom in Deoband. The student was living there since 2015 using fake Indian IDs. He was suspected for a long time and finally, the ATS took action and arrested him. However, it is not a new thing in the Saharanpur district. The Saharanpur district houses Darul Uloom of Deoband which is known for the Islamic teachings it imparts to Muslims who reach there from different parts of the country.
Besides, many illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, terrorists, and suspects have lived here for a long time in the past. Saharanpur is considered a very safe place to live in by these terrorists and ironically local intelligence seems to be unaware of the same. Every time a raid occurs and someone is detained or arrested, it is not by Deoband police but the other police or other investigation agencies.
Be it the alleged terrorists or Bangladeshis, they have always considered Saharanpur as a safe haven. The terrorists caught in different places of Saharanpur earlier are testimony to this. In most of the cases, police from other places or other agency has been taking action. Be it the local intelligence department or the police, these people do not even seem to be aware of the terrorists living there.
According to a report by Dainik Jagran, a Bangladeshi father-son duo, who were caught in February 2021, were also arrested by the ATS Lucknow. Both the father and son had been living in Saharanpur since 1994 and had made Aadhaar, PAN cards, etc. of India. The call details of the accused made it clear that they were in touch with people living in many countries.
Recently, the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of Uttar Pradesh Police detained a Bangladeshi youth while carrying out an operation in Deoband on Thursday 28th April 2022 late in the night. According to the ATS, the student is a Bangladeshi national who had been living in Deoband since 2015 on the basis of fake documents by concealing his identity. He is from the Chittagong district of Bangladesh and he had made an Aadhaar card of Meghalaya in his name. Reportedly, the mobile phone that the ATS has found from him has revealed a lot of information exposing the said student’s suspicious activities in Pakistan.
This is not the first time that the ATS has arrested a student of Darul-Uloom Madrassa in Deoband. The ATS had arrested Bangladeshi Tanvir and his father Umar Mohammed from Nadeem Colony in the city in February 2021. During interrogation, the duo had said that they were from Bangladesh and before Saharanpur, they were living in the state of West Bengal, but the police there had sent them to jail. After coming out on bail, they had again come to Saharanpur. The accused had also claimed that Saharanpur was declared safe. So they came and started living in Saharanpur.
Past connection of the Saharanpur district and terrorists
Catching terrorists and Bangladeshis from Saharanpur became a normal thing much earlier. Two years ago, Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist Shahnawaz Teli resident of Kulgam (Jammu and Kashmir), and Aaqib Ahmad Malik, a resident of Pulwama, both were arrested from Deoband. In 2019, the ATS sent five Bangladeshis from Deoband to jail after they were arrested. In 2016, special teams of Delhi Police nabbed Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Ejaz Sheikh from outside the Saharanpur railway station.
In 2010, Pakistani spy Shahid alias Iqbal Bhatti was arrested by the Patiala police from Haqeeqatnagar, who was living in the name of Devraj Sehgal. Dr. Irfan, a resident of Titoro, was caught in a bomb blast case in Ayodhya. In 2001, Mufti Israr was arrested in connection with terrorist activities. In 1994, three British nationals were held hostage in Khatakhedi by terrorists. Inspector Dhruvlal was martyred in an encounter to rescue them.
In 1991, a bomb exploded in Laxmi Cinema, in which about ten people were killed, at that time, the terrorists were said to have been involved in the incident. Kifayat Ullah alias Jafar Ahmed alias Ataur Rahman alias Al-Ullah was a resident of Mohalla Kasaban Sarsawa, who later went to Jammu and Kashmir and became a terrorist.
In the case of the arrest of a suspected Bangladeshi studying in Darul Uloom by the ATS, Bajrang Dal’s state convener Vikas Tyagi said that many times the suspects arrested from here have been linked to Darul Uloom Deoband and madrasas. Vikas Tyagi said that in the past, the names of terrorists and suspects have been repeatedly linked to Darul Uloom and Madarsas, which proves that Darul Uloom and Madarsas have a deep connection with terrorism. Vikas Tyagi also questioned under whose protection the arrested suspect has been living here for so long, who had given him shelter here, all this should be investigated and strict action should also be taken against those who harbor such suspects.
Vikas Tyagi demanded from Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath that the ATS center at Deoband should be built not anywhere else but on the premises of Darul Uloom. He demanded the government conduct search operations in madrasas including Darul Uloom and ban madrassas.
