HYDERABAD: After a day-long search in different parts of the city on Monday, the National Investigation Agency on Tuesday questioned eight persons over their connections with three other persons who were part of the ISIS module that was bust by the NIA Delhi Branch in 2016, and had also asked them to appear for questioning on Wednesday. “A total of eight persons were called by NIA Hyderabad today for questioning in connection with the searches conducted yesterday. They have been called again tomorrow,” said an official from NIA.
Sources confirmed that the present searches were in the houses of a total of seven persons, including those who were associated with the suspects in the past, and also those who were found to be showing inclinations to similar ideologies.
Meanwhile. Mohd Abdul Quddus, one of the detenues, said they are cooperating with the officials in the inquiry. “ My cousin from Pakistan is getting married on Aug 10, due to which I was using my son Qadir’s phone to talk to them everyday, and in this process, we had exchanged our identity and address proofs for visa formalities. Apart from this, we do not have any connection with any other persons,” he said. The other seven persons who were summoned for questioning, however, refused to speak.
Quddus, a father of three kids, hailing from the erstwhile Warangal district and now residing at Shaheen nagar on the city outskirts, had appeared for questioning along with his younger son Mohd Abdul Qadir. He said that his son had no connection with any suspects. He had purchased him a laptop for his education purpose.
Speaking about the questioning, he said that the NIA officials had behaved very well with them and had not troubled them at any point. “They asked me what my son did for a living. How they questioned my son is not in my knowledge. Only he would know that,” he said.
Quddus added that in 2016, he had taken his kids on a tour to a few states, during which they visited a lot of places as part of learning and recreation. “ There are more than 200 countries in the world and I can travel to any place I want. If I want, I will travel to Pakistan also. What is the problem if I am travelling to places without troubling anyone?” he questioned.
He further added that after failing to clear SSC, Qadir took to preaching Islam at mosques, where he had asked people to not believe in the creation and believe only in the creator. “He would also distribute copies of Quran and religious literature in languages including Arabic. Arabic is one of the many languages spoken across the world. Just because one speaks or reads Arabic, that person cannot be accused of being a criminal,” Qadir concluded.