Bhubaneswar: Chinks in intelligence network of Odisha police have again been exposed after the chargesheet filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) revealed that one of the arrested terrorist Sheikh Abdul Naeem had stayed in Cuttack.
As per sources, after the arrest of Odisha man Habibur Rahman on August 5 by NIA on charges of being a terrorist handler for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), it was revealed that he had facilitated and provided logistics support in arranging a safe hideout for Naeem in the millennium city.
Surprisingly, Odisha police had no prior information regarding Naeem’s presence in Cuttack. The investigating agencies in Odisha, however, now face an uphill task to bust the entire terror linkage in the city.
Besides, ascertaining who funded Naeem’s stay in Cuttack and supplied logistics including SIM cards also assume significance. Hence, a team of Special Task Force (STF) of Odisha Crime Branch will leave for New Delhi to interrogate Habibur Rahman
“Now since it has come to our notice and we are investigating the matter, appropriate action will be taken in this regard,” said Cuttack DCP, Akhilesvar Singh.
Naeem was arrested in 2007 while trying to facilitate infiltration of two Pakistani and one Kashmiri terrorists into India via Bangladesh. Sheikh alias Nomi, however, had later escaped from custody while he was being taken for court attendance to Maharashtra from Kolkata in August 2014.
On the other hand, preliminary investigation reveals that Habibur had left Odisha in 1987 and was staying in Mumbai and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia for the last 12 years.
It was only in 2006 that Habibur had last visited his parents in Kendrapara district. Sources said Habibur was one of the key facilitators of terrorist Naeem and assisted him to conduct reconnaissance of various important places across the country.