Bhubaneswar: The interrogation of Abdur Rehman, the terror suspect allegedly linked to the Al Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), has unearthed the startling revelation that he had given shelter to one of the Kandahar hijackers in 1999.
According to Crime Branch sources, Abdur Rehman has admitted that he is linked to various terror outfits including al-Qaeda and gave shelter to an accused in the Kandahar plane hijack. Rehman reportedly gave shelter to the accused in Cuttack. Sources informed that police is trying to obtain information on the exact location where he hid the hijack accused.
On the third day of his remand, Rehman is being grilled at the Crime Branch headquarters by the Special Task Force (STF).
Rehman was brought to Odisha on Tuesday by the STF of Crime Branch police on a 14-day remand granted by the Tis Hazari court in Delhi. He was produced before the Salepur JMFC court, which granted permission to the Crime Branch to take him on a 10-day remand.
Notably, in December 2015, a joint team of Odisha Police and Delhi Police Special Cell had arrested the 37-year-old cleric from Paschimkachcha village in Cuttack district for his alleged links with terrorist organisation AQIS.
Rehman was running an illegal madarsa at Tangi, 25 km from Cuttack, for the past two years and had appointed five teachers. The madarsa has since been closed and the students, most of them from neighbouring Jharkhand, sent back to their homes.