Brother says shoot him if he has terror link, family is ashamed
Uttar Pradesh police detained on Monday the 60-year-old mother and sister-inlaw of alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba operative Sandeep Sharma, who was arrested in Jammu and Kashmir.
A police team went to the suspected terrorist’s home in New Ankit Vihar Colony of Muzaffarnagar and took his mother, Premwati, and sister-in-law Rekha into custody. It was not clear why they were detained.
Elder brother Praveen Sharma, a taxi driver in Haridwar, said after the suspect’s arrest that he should be shot dead if he has links with the Pakistan-based group behind terrorist attacks in Kashmir and the 2008 Mumbai carnage in which 164 people were killed.
“We were not aware that he had links with LeT. We are ashamed of his act,” he said.
“He has done a shameful act. Whatever punishment the government gives to him, our family will not protest. Even if the government decides to shoot him we will support it,” he told reporters. Praveen apparently was informed about six months ago by a police officer from Kashmir’s Anantnag about his brother’s arrest “in some case”.
But he didn’t go there as the brother’s haven’t spoken to each other for three years, a source said. Sandeep alias Adil joined a private company and drove an auto-rickshaw for some time after finishing high school in his village, Mustafabad. Five years ago, he and a cousin went to New Delhi for jobs and a contractor in the city sent him to Kashmir.
“Of course, he (Sharma) is a militant,” J&K police chief Muneer Khan said. Sources said he hasn’t contacted his family since 2014.
According to senior superintendent of police Anant Dev Tiwari, the suspected terrorist has no criminal history in Muzaffarnagar.
Villagers there informed them that the family of Ramesh Sharma, the father, left the place more than a decade ago. The property was sold off seven years ago. After the patriarch’s death, the family rented a house in New Ankit Vihar Colony.
The Goa bench of Bombay high court on Monday issued notices to the civil aviation ministry, Goa chief secretary and three others in connection with the political meeting addressed by BJP national president Amit Shah at the Dabolim international airport on July 1.
Thee notices were issued after a city lawyer filed a petition in the high court on July 8, alleging that the political meeting which was attended by 2,500 people was illegally held in a prohibited area and violated several laws.
The notices were issued by justice FM Reis and justice Nutan Sardessai.
Speaking to the media, petitioner Aires Rodrigues said, “Notices have also been issued to Goa director general of police, Goa airport director and deputy commandant of the CISF, asking them how the meeting was conducted at the airport.”
The petition seeks a thorough probe into the manner in which the meeting was allowed at the airport, which functions out of Indian Naval Base INS Hansa. The high court gave the respondents three weeks to explain.
When the petition was filed, BJP state president Vinay Tendulkar had said the meeting was unannounced.
THE NOTICE WAS ISSUED AFTER A LAWYER FILED A PETITION, ALLEGING THAT THE MEETING WAS ILLEGALLY HELD IN A PROHIBITED AREA