BENGALURU: The three terror suspects from Bhatkal arrested earlier this week are innocent, their families claimed here on Saturday.
Bengaluru police said on Thursday they had arrested two men from a flat in Fraser Town, and a third from the coastal town of Bhatkal. They also claimed they had seized a huge amount of explosive material from the suspects.
Parents of the arrested men spoke to the media on Saturday and said the police had framed them. Syed Ismail Afaq, one of the three accused, is a homeopathic doctor married to a Pakistani woman of Bhatkal origin, and was planning to start a homeopathic clinic in Bengaluru, his parents said.
On Thursday, police had raided the house of Abdus Saboor in Bhatkal and claimed they had found explosives, but the house had remained locked for two months and had nothing in it, his parents claimed.
Policemen in plain clothes entered the house with some packets and did not allow Saboor’s relatives near the house. The youths are innocent and locals in Bhatkal know them well, his parents said.
Abdul Aleem and Noorunnisa, parents of Afaq, said he had completed his BHMS degree in 2002. He was married to a Pakistani woman called Arsala Abeer in 2005. The couple have three children and he was planning to move to Bengaluru to set up a clinic.
“The police have no evidence but are accusing him of terror as he was going to Pakistan to meet his wife,” Aleem said.
Mohammed Hussain said his son Abdus Saboor, an MBA student, had been arrested when he was in Bengaluru to work on a college project.
“I had been to Kerala on Wednesday as my brother-in-law has been hospitalised. I came to know about the arrests after one of my relatives called me up and said the police had broken open the door of our house,” Hussain said.
Firoz Khan said his son Saddam Hussain’s arrest had affected his daughter’s wedding, scheduled for January 28. “My son had no contact with any terror organisation.”
Akmal Razdi, an advocate, said the police had brutally assaulted his client Saddam Hussain, forcing him to limp when he was produced before the court.