The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of the Uttar Pradesh Police registered an FIR against 10 suspected terrorists on 11th October 2023. They have been identified as Adil ur Rahman Ashrafi, Abu Hurairah Ghazi, Sheikh Nazibul Haq, Mohammad Rashid, Kafiluddin, Azeem, Abdul Awwal, Abu Saleh, Abdul Gaffar and Abdullah Ghazi. All of them are accused of illegally soliciting money from abroad to build mosques in India, settling Rohingya and Bangladeshi citizens in India and carrying out anti-national activities.
The special thing in this whole case is that most of the conspirators arrested by the UP ATS were found to be associated with Darul Uloom of Deoband. Of the 10 accused, Delhi resident Abdul Awwal illegally obtained documents of residents of Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Assam and opened bank accounts. Later, he handed over the account to Abdul Gaffar of Delhi. Gaffar demanded money from abroad in these accounts. Abu Saleh also helped Gaffar in ordering this money.
The money, which was brought abroad and in many other parts of the country, was routed to Najibul Sheikh through hawala. Najibul Sheikh owns a cap and perfume shop near Darul Uloom Deoband in Saharanpur.
Najibul hails from Bengal and sells caps and perfumes in Deoband
According to the ATS, Najibul, originally living in West Bengal and temporarily in Deoband, had kept Bangladeshi citizen Atiq-ur-Rehman as his associate. Atiq ur Rehman had made India’s Aadhaar and PAN card etc. with fake documents. All of them were working as a gang that used to infiltrate Bangladeshis and Rohingya citizens into India and get their Indian papers made. These Bangladeshis were being settled in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and different parts of Northeast India.
On 11th October 2023, the ATS received information from an informer that some suspects associated with this network were present at Charbagh station in Lucknow. The ATS arrested Adilur Rehman Ashrafi there. On the same day, the Saharanpur unit of the ATS arrested Abu Hurairah and Najibul Sheikh.
All of them were brought to the ATS headquarters in Lucknow and questioned. Najibul, who identified himself as a resident of West Bengal, was currently running a perfume and cap shop in front of Darul Uloom in Deoband.
During interrogation, Najibul confessed that he used to get money from hawala. Adilur Rahman revealed his real name as Adil Ahmed Ashrafi, who is originally from Bangladesh. Adil Ahmed, who became an Indian with fake papers, was currently studying at Deoband Darul Uloom.
The network had recently illegally sold a Bangladeshi woman to an Indian man named Ibrahim for Rs 70,000. The woman has been arrested along with Ibrahim after recovery. Her papers are fake.
The third accused, Abu Hurairah, a resident of West Bengal, said that he currently lived in the Chhatta Mosque of Deoband in Darul Uloom. The UP ATS recovered electronics and electrical equipment, mobiles, ATM cards, UAE currency, Indian cash, SIM cards, Aadhaar cards, madrasa cards, PAN cards and passports from all of them.
All these accused have been prosecuted under sections 120-B, 419, 420, 467, 468, 471, and 370 of the IPC and Section 14 of the Foreigners Act 1946. Three accused have been arrested. Their names are Adil ur Rehman, Najibul Sheikh and Hurairah Ghazi. All others are on the run. At present, the case is being investigated by Inspector Dharmendra Yadav, in charge of the Meerut unit of the ATS. A copy of the FIR is with OpIndia.
According to information received from sources, the mosques were to be built in Punjab along the Pakistan border and in West Bengal near the Bangladesh border in the first phase. However, the ATS is currently engaged in tracing the root of this terrorist network and its economic sources. Also, the purpose of the construction of these mosques is yet to be revealed.
Darul Uloom was constantly helping Bangladeshi infiltrators
In the investigation of Uttar Pradesh ATS, the identity card of Darul Uloom Deoband was found from Adilur Rehman Ashrafi. He was originally from Bangladesh. However, later Darul Uloom refused to consider Adilur Rehman as its student. However, according to information received by OpIndia from sources, Adil ur Rehman used to frequently visit Deoband. He was also seen praying and teaching here several times.
Another accused arrested in the same case was also involved in anti-national acts. He called himself Ghazi. His name is Abu Hurairah. He was a resident of West Bengal’s 24 Parganas district, but he lived in the Chhatta Mosque of Darul Uloom Deoband. Sheikh Najibul, a resident of 24 Parganas in West Bengal, had been running a shop selling perfumes and caps in front of Darul Uloom Deoband for a long time.
Earlier on 19th July 2023, the UP ATS had registered another FIR. The ATS then arrested Habibullah Misbah and Ahmadullah. Habibullah, originally from Dinajpur in Bangladesh, was carrying an identity card of Darul Uloom Deoband. He lived in the Rukhsana building near Darul Uloom Deoband. Habibullah has also been Adilur Rehman’s room partner for some time. These illegal infiltrators had also faked Indian identity cards.
Apart from all these, the ATS had also registered an FIR on 28th April 2022. Then a terrorist named Talha Talukdar Bin Farooq was arrested. Talha, originally from Bangladesh, became an Indian with fake documents and lived in room number 61 of Dar-e-Jadid, a building in Darul Uloom Deoband. The ATS had also recovered a receipt of the scholarship of Darul Uloom Deoband from Talha talukdar. During interrogation, Talha Talukdar confessed that along with him, two other Bangladeshis named Salahuddin Salim and Iftakar were also studying Arabic illegally in Darul Uloom.
