BHUBANESWAR: Abdul Rehman, the suspected terror operative from Cuttack’s Paschimakachha village, has been slapped with charges for waging war against the Indian state.
The Special Task Force (STF) of Crime Branch, which has submitted charge sheet against the 38-year-old Muslim scholar in the JMFC Court Salepur, also wants him tried for terror activities.
Rehman has also been charged under Section 121 (A) for waging war against the State. He has also been charged under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act’s Section 17 (raising funds for the terrorist act), 18 (conspiracy), 18-A. (organising of terrorist camps) and 18-B (recruiting of any person or persons for the terrorist act).
Special DG, Crime Branch BK Sharma said, the charge sheet also includes CDs of the provocative speeches that Rehman had delivered at various places. The forensic evidence such voice sound spectrograph reports and transcripts have also been submitted before the court.
Since his speeches were aimed at radicalising youth for jihad, the statements of people who had attended the “jalsa” where Rehman had delivered the sermons have also been recorded and presented. Similarly, documents which reveal that the Deoband scholar had travelled to UAE and Pakistan have also been presented to the court.
The chargesheet submits that Rehman was mostly into identifying youths who could be recruited for terror outfits. While he never was part of any terror act, he was allegedly acting as a liaison with terror outfits which has been pointed out in the report.
The terror suspect, who ran a madrasa in Bilteruan near Tangi in Cuttack, had also received funding support from NGOs and individuals for his school and most of it came from Bengaluru. Bank account records of the Paschimakachha resident have also been attached.
The chargesheet also mentions that no weapons or explosives were recovered from the accused but details all the criminal charges which existed before he was nabbed last year.
Rehman was arrested by a joint team of Special Cell of Delhi Police and Commissionerate Police in December 2015.
Earlier, Rehman was stated to be a member of Al Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), an affiliate of the international terror outfit. However, no such connection could be established during the investigation. He was rather directly in touch with ideologues of Al Qaeda and Taliban.
While the chargesheet has been submitted before the JMFC Court, trial in the case can be conducted only by a Sessions Court given the nature of offences.