White collar terror module: Haryana preacher pleads with police to collect rent from doctors

The atmosphere in the police interrogation room in Srinagar is tense, but the Haryana preacher detained in connection with the ‘white collar’ terror module remains focused on the unpaid rents of the arrested doctors.

Religious preacher Maulvi Ishtiyaq from Mewat in Haryana was nabbed by the Jammu and Kashmir Police after seizing 2,500 kg of explosives, including ammonium nitrate, potassium chlorate and sulfur, from his rented house outside Al Falah University in Faridabad, which has emerged as the epicenter of the terror module.

His name is Dr. Dr., a key member of the ‘white collar’ terror module arrested from the university. It was revealed during the interrogation of Muzammil Ganaie. Thereupon, the police team seized explosives at the preacher’s house.

This white-collar module was busted on November 10 after intense investigation by Srinagar police, leading to the arrest of eight people, including three doctors. However, one of them, Dr. Umar-un-Nabi managed to escape from their grasp and killed 15 people using an explosives-laden car that exploded outside the Red Fort on November 10.

According to authorities, Maulvi Ishtiyaq told his interrogators a surprisingly different story; He claimed that Ganaie and Umar approached him earlier this year and asked him to store what they called “manure” at their home and allegedly agreed on a monthly storage fee of ₹2,500.

They said Maulvi Ishtiyaq was not concerned about the seriousness of the situation and his concern was about the unpaid rent owed by Ganaie and Umar which had been outstanding for the last six months.

The religious preacher, who was living below the poverty line and trying to support his four children and family, told officials of the National Investigation Agency, Srinagar Police and other officials from the central security agencies to recover the unpaid rent from Ganaie and thus send the money back home.

The disparity between the heinous crime of storing enough supplies for a major terrorist attack and the detainee’s urgent, desperate concern to pay rent was enough to break the tension in the interrogation room, even if only briefly, authorities recalled.

A senior police official said the incident provided a strange and tragicomic look at lives on the edge of major terrorist plots.

Authorities said Maulvi Ishtiyaq was handed over to the State Investigation Agency for further action, stating that his story was supported by Ganaie during interrogation.

The preacher was detained on November 12 after a series of raids by the Jammu and Kashmir police along with their Haryana counterparts.

Jammu and Kashmir police, along with their counterparts in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, on November 10 conducted an operation to unearth the ‘white-collar’ terror network of banned Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind and arrested eight persons.

Investigations were taken to Al Falah University, where 2,900 kg of explosives were seized.

It all started on the intervening night of October 18-19, when banned JeM posters appeared on the walls just outside the city of Srinagar. Posters warned of attacks on police and security forces in the Valley.

Three persons, Arif Nisar Dar alias Sahil, Yasir-ul-Ashraf and Maqsood Ahmad Dar alias Shahid, were arrested after CCTV footage showed them pasting the posters.

During interrogation, they said that the person who provided the posters was former medical officer and preacher Maulvi Irfanas. He was arrested.

This was the issue that led to the plot unraveling. Ganaie and Dr Shaheen Saeed were kept in Faridabad. Later, Adeel Pretty was picked up from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh.