BHUBANESWAR/CUTTACK: Suspected Al Qaeda operative Abdul Rehman Kataki’s international connections seem to be running deep. His madrasa in Bilateruan village under Tangi police limits was being funded by Al-Harmain Trust.
Rehman’s deputy Abdul Wahid has stated that Rehman received most of his funding support from the Al-Harmain Trust for his madrasa which was being run under the name of Jamiat-ul-Harmain Madrasa.
While investigators are looking into the fund flow from the Trust, the expenditure is also under scanner. The financial transactions of Rehman as well as the madrasa are being analysed and sources said, the accused has apparently told the investigators that he received the funds as donations.
A day after his arrest by the joint team of Delhi Police and Police Commissionerate of Bhubaneswar-Cuttack, investigation has revealed that Rehman had acquaintance with Kafeel Ahmed’s family. Kafeel was one of the two fidayeen attackers who had rammed their propane cannister-loaded jeep into Glasgow Airport in 2007 and died on August 2 the same year.
Rehman was instrumental in the marriage of Kafeel Ahmed’s sister. Kafeel’s sister was married to Zeeshan Ali, a native of Jamshedpur in neighbouring Jharkhand, and it was Rehman who had prepared the ‘Nikahnama’. The marriage document was chalked out at Paschimkachha, Rehman’s native village. Police Commissioner Dr RP Sharma said Rehman had acquaintance with Zeeshan.
While the Maulvi himself had solemnised the wedding, there is no record yet of his involvement in the Glasgow attack plot. Currently, Zeeshan lives in Saudi Arab along with his wife.
Police investigation has revealed that Rehman had travelled to Saudi Arab and Dubai. His travel documents, sources said, do not indicate any visit to Pakistan yet. In Saudi Arab though, he went to several places by air.
Even as Delhi Police’s Special Cell has secured a 12-day custody of Rehman, the Police Commissionerate of Bhubaneswar-Cuttack also quizzed three of his co-teachers. Similarly, two persons from Cuttack’s Pira Bazar and another from Jagatpur were detained and interrogated.
While Rehman travelled quite a bit, Police Commissionerate informed that he used to have a number of visitors during his stay in Jagatpur. Similarly, whether he managed to recruit any operative from the State is under investigation.