LUCKNOW: Sambhal police have launched a detailed probe into connections of local resident Mohammad Usman, suspected to be an Al Qaeda operative, languishing in Lahore jail after being arrested by Pakistan police on December 16, 2024.
After getting directives from Union Home and External Affairs ministry, besides a letter from the state government to launch investigation in the matter, the Sambhal police quizzed over a dozen persons including the family members of Usman on Sunday.
As per the Sambhal police sources, the information about Usman’s incarceration in Lahore was provided by Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Government of India.
According to Sambhal Superintendent of Police Krishna Kumar Bishnoi, primary investigation revealed that Usman had been missing since 2012.
“The special cell of Delhi police had accused him of being involved in terrorist activities in 2015, but he was not apprehended. He was declared a fugitive and an absconder by Delhi police in 2016,” said the SP while talking to media persons.
He added that Usman had joined AQIS (Al Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent).
One of his associates from Deepa Sarai, Maulana Asim Umar, was previously reported to have been killed in a US drone strike in the Helmand province of Afghanistan in 2019.
“Now with the information about his imprisonment in Lahore Central Jail, the probe has been launched to get the sense how he reached Pakistan. We are also trying to trace his connections,” said the SP.
Meanwhile, the police sources claimed that during the interrogation on Sunday, Usman’s relatives said that he had left home about 13 years ago on the pretext of going to Delhi for a course in air conditioner repairing.
However, the family including Usman’s brother Furman said that they did not know how he ended up in Lahore. Furman said that Usman was unmarried and did not have a beard when he disappeared.
However, now a picture, shared by Pakistan authorities, showed him having a beard.
Furman also stated that they were three brothers including him and Usman. While one of them is based in Dubai, Furman and another Hassan are drivers.
They have three sisters as well. Two sisters are married while the third one is unmarried. Their mother passed away in their childhood and their father also died in 2012.
According to Furman, Usman is a class 10 pass out. He had procured a passport before leaving for Delhi.
From Delhi, he visited home several times but never returned or contacted the family after 2012. Delhi police had visited the area multiple times to inquire about him.
Meanwhile, the Sambhal police are looking the matter from all possible angles, interrogating all his relatives and other known connections.
As per the police sources, after getting caught by the Pakistan authorities, Usman said he was related to the late Shafiq-ur-Rehman Barq’s family. Barq was an MP of Samajwadi Party from Sambhal. Now his grandson Zia-ur-Rehman Barq represents the constituency in Lok Sabha as an SP MP.
However, on being asked about the relations with Barq family, Furman said that their house was just 400 metre away from Barqs’ residence in Deepa Saria in Sambhal but they were not relatives.