Bengaluru: Over the last fortnight, the frequency of police officers visiting the Makkah Masjid and collecting details about Maulvi Syed Anzar Shah Qasmi raised suspicion among the committee members and they foresaw that he could be arrested for delivering inflammatory speech somewhere, but on Thursday evening, it came as shock to the clergy and the president of the mosque to hear that Qasmi had links with Al Qaeda.
Qasmi was picked up by the officials of the Anti-Terrorist Squad, Delhi on Wednesday night from his house in Illyaz Nagar that he had taken on rent recently.
“Initially we thought he went missing and few of his followers even went to lodge a missing complaint at the K.S. Layout police station. Later on Thursday evening, Anzar Shah Qasmi’s wife got a phone call from her husband from Delhi who informed her that he was okay and that he has been formally arrested, produced before the Patiala House court on a warrant and was remanded in judicial custody until January 20.
His wife has been unconscious since the arrest. Their home in Hegde Nagar is witnessing a steady stream of relatives and neighbours.
Qasmi’s eldest son, Fouzan Shah, 28, who is also an imam at a mosque said, “It’s like a mountain coming down on our family and we are all shocked. I am very sure my father is innocent and he has been framed. Al Qaeda is a big name and my father did not have any links with any terror module and I am sure he will come back.”
