Rehman Ran a Seminary in Bengaluru Too

BHUBANESWAR:  Before he opened a madrasa in Tangi’s Bilteruan, suspected Al Qaeda operative Abdul Rehman Kataki operated another such seminary in Bengaluru where he lived for several years in the mid-2000.

It is in Bengaluru that he is reported to have met Mahammed Asif, the founder of Al Qaeda’s Indian sub-continent affiliate of which Rehman was an associate.

Sources said the 37-year-old Maulvi was handed over a mail that Maulana Asim Umar (or Sanaul Haq), head of the jihadi outfit’s South Asia chief, had written to Asif. The mail, according to Intelligence agencies, was about recruitment of operatives for expanding the network of the outfit in the country.

Rehman’s stint in Bengaluru is related to his elder brother Tahyar Ali who was arrested in 2001 for allegedly sheltering a Pakistan-based operative in Kendrapara. The Pakistani operative was accused of being involved in the 2001 attack on American Centre at Kolkata. When Tahyar was held, Rehman left Odisha and moved to Karnataka. He stayed in Bengaluru till 2007 during which he opened the madrasa.

Later, Tahyar was acquitted of the charges and he is currently a member of the Biju Janata Dal in Salepur area.

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