HYDERABAD: “Ilyas and Ibrahim were religious but not orthodox. They were never a part of any jamaat (organisation) nor were overtly extremist in ideology.” This is what relatives of the suspected Islamic State operatives Ilyas and Ibrahim Yazdani have to say about them. Similar are the allegations made by family members of Muzaffar Rizwan, another suspected operative.
The family members have accused the National Investigation Agency (NIA) of providing wrong information against the three youth. “Materials that NIA has shown as those used for preparing bombs are actually items of daily use,” alleged a kin of the Yazdani brothers.
The NIA sleuths were accused not only of providing false information against the trio but also of misbehaving with women during the raids. The phones of womenfolk were shown as those of the alleged operatives, family members said on Friday. “NIA took four of our phones and a dysfunctional laptop that was used as a toy by kids. They later showed everything as being ‘seized’ from IS operatives and said the phones were stolen,” said Alena Begum, sister of Ilyas and Ibrahim Yazdani.
Claiming that the wires and toolkit presented by the Agency as bombs were nothing but normal electrical wires, Atiqua Khatun, another sister of the Yazdani brothers said, “Our father was an electrical contractor and the toolkit shown as bomb by the NIA belonged to him. As electrical wiring work was underway in our house, there were lot of wires.” If the NIA had seized so many items, why didn’t they file an FIR?, questioned Atiqua.
Meanwhile, Nadera Parven, wife of another accused operative Muzaffar Rizwan, said the `15L that NIA showed as seized from her husband belonged to her father. “The money was my father’s and he transferred it to our joint account, Rizwan and mine, for business purpose. We have furnished all details as to when and why the money was transferred. However, NIA has been showing the money as being used in carrying out the blasts,” said a teary-eyed Nadera.
The family members also claimed that the Agency had furnished wrong details pertaining to the two brothers. “NIA showed Ibrahim as a software engineer. However, he has a degree in electrical engineering. We have certificates to prove it. They also showed Ilyas as computer literate but the truth is he is just an intermediate pass. He works at Mee Seva. They have seized the passports of both my brothers,” said a kin of the Yazdani brothers.
When asked about the suspected operatives viewing an IS website, Alena said it was a conspiracy to frame Muslims and urged CM K Chandrasekhar Rao to intervene for their release.