Don’t siblings of slain militants have a right to lead a normal life? What gives the police the power to arrest them, even if they are not pursuing any criminal activity? These are some questions that the family of a shawl seller from Jammu and Kashmir who was allegedly picked up by the Delhi police last month is asking. They also allege that Sajjad Khan was detained for nearly a month before his arrest was finally declared on March 21.
Last week, the Special Cell of the Delhi police claimed that on March 21, it arrested Sajjad Khan, a key aide of the alleged mastermind of the Pulwama terror attack, Muddasir Khan. Twenty-seven-year-old Sajjad was arrested in Red Fort, it said.
The police claimed that during the Pulwama attack, in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel were killed, Sajjad was constantly in touch with Muddasir. It said Muddasir alias ‘Mohd Bhai’ sent Sajjad to establish sleeper cells in Delhi.
The police said Sajjad was communicating with Mudassir and a Pakistan-based terrorist Yasir through an app, using numbers not registered in his name. Muddasir was subsequently killed in an encounter on March 11.
Handed over to the NIA
Sajjad was arrested for criminal conspiracy, waging war and under the relevant sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). He was also paraded before the media.
Subsequently, the police handed him over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). In a press note, the NIA said it arrested Sajjad for terror activities.
“Sajjad Khan was specially sent to Delhi to set up hideouts in Delhi. This was done to select specific targets and also to radicalise and recruit Muslim youths to further terror activities,” a release issued by NIA said.
Sajjad’s father claims his son was only a shawl seller
The claim was, however, contested by Sajjad’s father, Ghulam Nabi Khan. He insisted that his son was only a shawl seller and had left for Delhi last November. After the Special Cell detained Sajjad in February, Ghulam said the family came to know about it through the local media.
In Photos: After Young Principal’s Custodial Death, Grief and Anger in Kashmir
He told The Hindu, “We came to know that the Delhi police’s special cell picked up my son and six other people from Delhi Gate around February 22. It was published even in local newspapers. I rushed to Delhi and met the police officials at Lodhi Road. The police confirmed his arrest and promised to release him soon.”
Father feared son would be framed in another attack
Ghulam, who works as a carpenter and is a part-time farmer, was also quoted as saying: “I reached home with the hope he would be released. Within days, I saw him being framed in an attack in Kashmir. How can he be a part of any attack when he has been in Delhi from November and in police custody since February?”
He admitted that two of his other sons were killed soon after they joined the militancy. One of them was Ishfaq Ahmad Khan, who was killed on April 24, 2018, while Showkat Ahmad Khan, was killed on October 30, 2018.
Ghulam says that Sajjan was trying to lead an ordinary life when he was framed.
The issue has rankled both the Delhi police and the NIA. The agency, which registered a case against the Jaish-e-Mohammad leadership on March 15 for hatching a conspiracy to carry out subversive activities, has stated that the Delhi police knows when Sajjad was arrested. The Delhi police has now gone silent on the subject.