PUNE, 13 July 2007 — A 22-year-old Kashmiri man from Doda district, thought to be an Al-Qaeda member, was arrested by police late Wednesday night in the Pimpri district of Pune and taken to an undisclosed destination.
According to police sources, the arrested man has been residing in Pune for the last eight months. He was working as a security guard at a local private company and was enrolled at a junior college.
The arrest was made after Military Intelligence officials monitored the man’s activities for a week following a tip off from the federal Intelligence Bureau (IB) in Delhi. Military Intelligence officials instructed local police to arrest the man after becoming convinced that he was involved in terrorist activities and was an Al-Qaeda operative.
Eyebrows were raised after the man’s arrest, which exposed the negligence of the State Intelligence Department and local Special Branch police, who are supposed to be more involved in intelligence gathering work. “It’s a failure of the police system in Maharashtra. Such negligence would cost the state and the nation dearly,” said a senior police official.
According to sources, the Intelligence Bureau suspects that the arrested youth is an Al-Qaeda operative and was in contact with various terrorist organizations. He is also alleged to have been passing information to terrorist organizations about military and vital defense installations in Pune.
Military Intelligence and local police officials were yesterday interrogating the suspected militant. Top Intelligence Bureau and Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) officials have also arrived in the city to join the interrogation.
Two months ago, Pune police arrested Vishalkumar Upadhya, a student at a local engineering college, who was alleged to be an agent of the Pakistani government’s Inter Services Intelligence.
Upadhya was said to have in his possession sensitive Indian military documents and maps of defense units, including photographs of ammunition factories in Pune.
The federal home ministry two days ago granted permission to police to present a charge sheet in court against Upadhya, who is currently at Yerawada Central Prison awaiting trial.
