NABARANGPUR: The Nabarangpur administration on Thursday issued closure notice to Madrasa Hanfiya in Papadahandi, 10 km from the district headquarters town.
The madrasa, which was opened five months back, was not registered with the School and Mass Education Department.
A team of police and Nabarangpur administration officials had conducted an inquiry into the alleged link of Al Qaeda facilitator Abdul Rehman Kataki with the madrasa at Papadahandi in the district.
The madrasa is a part of the Sunni Raza Jama Masjid which was established at Papadahandi-Dabugam road a few years back by the local Muslims.
District Education Officer Kulamaninath Sarma, who visited the madrasa, went through the records of the madrasa and found that it was not yet registered and financial support for running it was being provided by the local Muslims.
The madrasa had 19 students and 11 of them are locals. The remaining eight students are from Uttar Pradesh.
The district administration has contacted Gorakhpur administration in Uttar Pradesh to send back the eight students to their houses.
They are Narul Huda, Aaish Md, Sarfat Alli, Md Alli, Kamar Raza, Hassan Raza, Rehan Raza, and Ahemad Raza. All of them belong to Pachma village in Gorakhpur district.
As reported in a section of the media, Rehman had visited Madrasa Hanfiya in October this year.
Locals said MLALAD funds were provided by the legislator of Dabugam Assembly segment for construction of the madrasa.
It had started functioning from August this year and was managed by local masjid committee. They denied any involvement of Rehman in running the madrasa.