BENGALURU: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested a 38-year-old Bengaluru-based doctor in New Delhi after he was deported from Saudi Arabia. Dr Sabeel Ahmed was held in connection with the alleged 2012 Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) recruitment plot registered by the Bengaluru City Police.
Sabeel Ahmed is the younger brother of Kafeel Ahmed, an aeronautical engineer who carried out a failed suicide bombing at Glasgow Airport, Scotland, on June 29, 2007. Sabeel, who was in London, was deported to India the same year as he had not disclosed the plot though he had prior knowledge. In 2010, he had moved to Saudi Arabia and was working at King Fahad Hospital. Sources said that he was arrested on Friday and brought to Bengaluru on Sunday. He will be produced before a court on Monday.
Will request court for Sabeel Ahmed’s custody for questioning, says police
“He (Sabeel Ahmed) was brought on transit warrant to Bengaluru and we will request the court for his custody as he needs to be questioned as part of the probe,” an official said. The case was initially registered by the Bengaluru City Police at Basaveshwara Nagar police station and was taken over by the NIA. Investigations had revealed the alleged conspiracy to commit terrorist activities in India by a LeT-supported network of terrorists based abroad and their associates in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.
The NIA had named 25 people as accused and had arrested 17. Of them, 14 had pleaded guilty and were released after serving jail term. As part of the conspiracy, the accused persons had allegedly decided to kill select targets — prominent politicians and journalists who were inclined to right-wing ideologies, including present BJP MP Pratap Simha who was then a columnist — in Bengaluru, Hubballi, Hyderabad and Nanded intending to spread terror and communal disharmony.
To carry out the attacks, they had allegedly collected arms and ammunition, stolen vehicles and instruments. As Sabeel Ahmed had allegedly met some of the accused in the case, the NIA had requested Saudi Arabia to deport him to India. Ahmed was detained there and, after the NIA submitted supporting evidence about his involvement in the alleged plot, he was deported. He is alleged to have met some of the key accused in the case in Saudi Arabia and had allegedly helped in recruitment for LeT in India.