SRINAGAR – The family of Sajjad Khan – a Kashmiri youth who was picked up after the Pulwama attack – has alleged that the youngster was being framed in the attack that took place last month.
Sajjad, a shawl seller was detained by police in February, however, his arrest was finally declared on March 21 with allegations that he was linked to the Pulwama attack in which over 40 Indian soldiers were left dead.
The Special Cell of the Delhi police claimed that Sajjad Khan was a key aide of the alleged mastermind of the Pulwama terror attack, Muddasir Khan and so he was arrested in Red Fort.
However, the family of the Twenty-seven-year-old disputes the claims as baseless saying, Sajjad was was just a shawl seller and had nothing to do with the attack.
The police claimed that during the Pulwama attack, Sajjad was constantly in touch with Muddasir. It said Muddasir alias ‘Mohd Bhai’ sent Sajjad to establish sleeper cells in Delhi – a charge the family of youth denies altogether.
The police said Sajjad was communicating with Mudassir and a Pakistan-based Yasir through an app; Muddasir was subsequently killed in an encounter on March 11.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/headline/at-least-18-indian-soldiers-killed-in-held-kashmir-bomb-blast/
Sajjad was arrested for criminal conspiracy, waging war and under the relevant sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and was also paraded before the media, the wire reported.
He was handed him over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and in a communique, the NIA said it arrested Sajjad for terror activities.
“Sajjad Khan was specially sent to Delhi to set up hideouts in Delhi. This was done to select specific targets and also to radicalise and recruit Muslim youths to further terror activities,” a release issued by NIA said.
However, Sajjad’s father Ghulam Nabi Khan insists that his son had left for Delhi last November and the family came to know about the arrest through the local media.
“We came to know that the Delhi police’s special cell picked up my son and six other people from Delhi Gate around February 22. It was published even in local newspapers. I rushed to Delhi and met the police officials at Lodhi Road. The police confirmed his arrest and promised to release him soon,” he told The Hindu.
Ghulam, who works as a carpenter and is a part-time farmer, was also quoted as saying: “I reached home with the hope he would be released. Within days, I saw him being framed in an attack in Kashmir. How can he be a part of any attack when he has been in Delhi from November and in police custody since February?”
He admitted that two of his other sons were killed soon last year. One of them was Ishfaq Ahmad Khan, who was killed on April 24, 2018, while Showkat Ahmad Khan, was killed on October 30, 2018.
Ghulam asserts that Sajjad was trying to lead an ordinary life when he was framed in the attack that has shaken up the power corridors in India.
The issue has become a bone of contention between NIA and Delhi police as the former says Delhi police knows when Sajjad was arrested, however, the Delhi police is now keeping mum over the subject.
