Hizb-Ut-Tahrir's alleged associate arrested

HYDERABAD: Police are digging deep into the activities of Mohammed Salman, a daily-wage earner who is suspected to be associated with the terror outfit Hizb-Ut-Tahrir (HuT), and those of the other suspects who had been picked up earlier in the week, especially about people with whom they were in regular contact.
Mohammed Saleem, alias Saurabh Raj Vaidhya, a native of Bhopal and working as head of department of pharmaceutical biotechnology at a college, is said to be the kingpin of the gang’s Hyderabad operations.

Sources said early indications were that the city group was in a nascent stage when it came to taking up activities. Despite plans to make IEDs and carrying out attacks, they could not convert them into action, in the absence of resources.A probe was underway on their travel history, activities on social media platforms and call data records and other technical aspects.

Meanwhile, Saleem’s wife Raheela, alias Mansi Agarwal, claimed that her husband was innocent and they were implicated in the issue. “Looks like they have made a link connecting my husband to the terror organisation and came here,” she told reporters on Wednesday.

Raheela, who was a teacher in the past, said that the officers came without any notice, ransacked the house and even took away children’s toys, claiming that they were weapons.

She said that she embraced Islam after a lot of research. The couple got married in 2010. Initially Saleem got converted to Islam and a few years later Raheela followed suit. They relocated to the city from Bhopal to learn hijama (cupping therapy).

Salman’s family claimed that he was innocent and had nothing to do with the group. But Salman and another suspect, Mohammed Hameed, of Jagathgirigutta used to meet frequently as they were friends and had celebrated Id-ul-Fitr together, they said.