NABARANGPUR:A team of police and Nabarangpur administration officials conducted an inquiry into the alleged link of Al Qaeda facilitator Abdul Rehman Kataki with a madrasa at Papadahandi in the district.
As reported in a section of the media, Rehman had visited Madrasa Hanfiya in Papadahandi, 10 km away from the Nabarangpur town, in October this year. The madrasa is a part of the Sunni Raza Jama Masjid that was established at Papadahandi-Dabugam road a few years back by the local Muslims. Papadahandi is a block headquarters town mostly dominated by Muslims.
The team members, including Papadahandi SDPO Damodar Lenka and District Education Officer Kulamaninath Sarma, went through the records of the madrasa and found that it has not been registered with the School and Mass Education Department. Financial support for running the madrasa is provided by local Muslims. Speaking to mediapersons, SP Jugal Kishore said the madrasa had an enrolment of 19 students and 11 of them are locals. The remaining eight students are from Uttar Pradesh. Munawwar Raza from Parsa Urf Aglahva village in Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh teaches the students at the institution, the SP said. He added that at present, police do not have any confirmed report on visit of Rehman to the madrasa and investigation is on.
Locals said MLALAD funds were provided by the legislator of Dabugam Assembly segment for construction of the masjid and madrasa. The madrasa started functioning from August this year and was managed by local masjid committee. They denied any involvement of Rehman in running the madrasa.