Al-Qaeda suspect has no criminal history in UP, says ATS

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh anti-terrorist squad (UP ATS), which is looking into the antecedents of suspected Al-Qaeda operative from Saharanpur, Mohammed Gulnawaz, has found that he has no criminal record in the state.
An ATS team visited Pullhar, the native village of Gulnawaz in Saharanpur, and found that he initially worked as a welder with a small-time steel fabrication unit and later went to Saudi Arabia where he worked as a driver.
Gulnawaz, along with Shuhaib of Kannur (Kerala), were arrested by NIA from Thiruvananthapuram airport on September 22 after they were deported from Saudi Arabia for their alleged links with terror outfit Al-Qaeda.
“We found that Gulnawaz belongs to a poor family. His three brothers are employed in local shops and his sister stays at home. His father Wamis is a farmer,” an ATS officer said.
The ATS team tried to collect information about Gulnawaz and his family from local residents but did not find anything suspicious.
Officials said while NIA is yet to share details about Gulnawaz, ATS is probing how he reached Saudi Arabia in 2008.
His deportation took place after the arrest of three alleged Al-Qaeda operatives, Murshid Hasan, Iyakub Biswas and Mosaraf Hossen, during a raid on a settlement of migrant workers in Kochi.
Gulnawaz was in touch with these men from West Bengal through Telegram app.
Section 34 of IPC added in Bikru FIR
In order to make the case against 42 accused strong, the district’s Chaubeypur police has added section 34 of IPC to the FIR in the July 2 & 3 Bikru ambush that claimed lives of eight policemen, including a deputy SP rank official. “We have added section 34 of IPC. When a criminal act is done by several persons in furtherance of the common intention of all, each of such persons is liable for that act in the same manner as if it were done by him alone for making case strong ,” said SP Brijesh Kumar Srivastava.