The Tamilnadu youth Raj Mohammad, who was arrested on June 7 for threatening to blow up the RSS offices in Lucknow, Gonda, and in 4 places of Karnataka was radicalized online and inspired by Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, as per the officials from UP ATS conducting the investigation. The Gyanvapi issue in UP and the hijab row in Karnataka, according to ATS officials questioning Raj Mohammad, was the prime reason for his threat to blow up RSS headquarters.
According to a report by the Times of India, Additional Director General of Police, ATS, Naveen Arora said Mohammed is a ‘highly radicalized’ young man who used to study and follow jihadi literature. He said, “We have got a forensic examination conducted on his mobile phone recovered from his possession, reports of which are awaited.” The officers also told that the WhatsApp and other chats retrieved by the cyber unit of the ATS revealed that Raj Mohammad was in touch with some suspicious groups in Lebanon and Syria. According to ATS sources, Mohammed believed that he was the messianic person who would banish injustice and evil from the earth.
Officers further disclosed that when asked why he threatened to place bombs exclusively in the states of Karnataka and UP, the accused said he was angry that Muslim girls were not permitted to wear the hijab in Karnataka schools. He was also aggravated by the Gyanvapi issue in Uttar Pradesh. Raj Mohammad told the authorities that he used the internet to identify the locations and office holders for the RSS before sending messages on WhatsApp. The ATS officers said, “Some of them accepted the link sent to join his group, while others did not.”
All other contacts who were frequently in touch with the accused are being traced and the ATS will interrogate them as well. According to senior ATS officials, the investigations so far have revealed that from 2018 to 2021, the accused Raj Mohammad was also a member of the Popular Front of India. A diploma student in the local government institute, Raj Mohammed was picked up from the Thirukokarnam police station area on June 7.
An FIR was filed with the Madiaon police by Neelakanth Tiwari of Aliganj claiming that he had received a link from an unknown number that was an invitation to a WhatsApp group. He received three messages about bombing six locations when he joined the group. Raj Mohammad, a resident of the Pudukodi district of Tamil Nadu, was arrested by the state police based on the information provided by the Uttar Pradesh ATS. The UP ATS team had brought the accused to Lucknow on transit remand to interrogate.
