IS-inspired terror case: Kin of two accused claim NIA officials manhandled women, children

The ISIS module was planning attacks on important political and security offices in Delhi, said NIA officials.

Raees and Saeed's parents Mustariya Habib could not hold back her tears while detailing the ordeal she and her family had to go through when NIA officials arrested her sons from Amroha in the early hours of Wednesday. (Photo | Parveen Negi/ EPS)

AMROHA: Villagers and family members of two of the ten people arrested on Wednesday as members of an Islamic State (IS)-inspired terror module protested on Thursday alleging that the two were innocent and that National Investigation Agency (NIA) officials had manhandled several villagers.    

The two accused, Saeed and Raees were picked up from their homes in Saidpur Imma (Uttar Pradesh) in a raid. The brothers have been accused of procuring approximately 25 kilograms of explosives and fabricating a rocket launcher in a bid to carry out terror attacks in various parts of the country.

The protesting villagers claimed that NIA officials, during the raid, ransacked their houses and the welding shop where the two worked in the village while also manhandling the women of the house.

According to Raees’ mother Mustariya, the NIA officials were present in the house from 3 am on Wednesday to around 12 pm. “All the while they were present, they gagged us. We were not allowed to speak and most of us were covered with blankets. Some of them even sat on us. We were not even allowed to go to the toilets. Some women in the house were forced to urinate in their clothes. Even the children were not spared. What wrong have the children done? We were not even allowed to breastfeed infants,” she wailed and added that they had requested the officials to wait for the panchayat leaders to arrive but their pleas fell on deaf ears.

Habib, the father of the arrested duo, was a little calmer. Fighting back tears, he said he wanted justice. 

The interiors of the sealed welding workshop belonging to Saeed and Raees in Islam Nagar area of Amroha in Uttar Pradesh. (Photo | Parveen Negi/ EPS)

“If they have done something wrong, let them be punished. Even I do not want criminals in my house. But if they are innocent, they must be released at the earliest.  You can enquire with the entire neighbourhood about my sons. Everyone will tell you that they are innocent,” he said.

Meanwhile, some of the protesting villagers reached Saeed’s welding shop on the outskirts of the village with a tractor to demonstrate that the accused was just doing his job. “It is his job to make pistons for tractors and vehicles. The NIA has projected these pistons to be rocket launchers. I have known him (Saeed) for the past 10 years and I can assure you that he is innocent,” Mohammad, a 26-year-old resident of the village said.

The NIA claims that the workshop, on the outskirts, was used to manufacture the arms to be used on targets including the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh headquarters in Nagpur and the Delhi Police headquarters.