6 Keralites detained on suspicion while clicking pics in Ayodhya
Six Kerala residents were detained from near a disputed site in Ayodhya premises after security forces got suspicious over them while they were clicking pictures of some locations on Tuesday morning. The UP Anti Terror Squad (ATS) and intelligence sleuths so far have not found anything objectionable from their possession. The sleuths, however, were quizzing them further to know their purpose behind Ayodhya visit before giving them clean chit.
The suspects included four Muslims, Moalil Ali-al-Umar, 65; VB Ali Kunju, 60; TVM Qasim, 58; AM Ali-ul-Umar, 49 and two Christians, JB Thomas, 45 and VR Jones, 45. Five of them claimed to be residents of Ernakulum district while and Qasim hails from Thrissur district of Kerala.
Inspector General (IG) of Police, Lucknow Zone, A Satish Ganesh said all suspects are between the age group of 45 and 65 years. He said Moalil Ali-alUmar claimed to be a retired sub-inspector of Kerala police while AM Ali-ul-Umar claimed himself to a practising lawyer of Kerala High Court. He said Kunju has grocery business, Qasim is a tea seller, Thomas does wielding work and Jones is a carpenter. He said they all have been handed over to ATS team and are being interrogated.
IG ATS, Asim Arum said all six were detained on suspicion basis when security personnel spotted them clicking photographs of some installations on their mobile phones in Ayodhya.
He said so far no suspicious things had been recovered from them but the suspicion deepened when they could not tell any clear purpose behind their Ayodhya visit.
Arun said all the suspects have proper identity cards but the details told by them are being verified by Kerala police. He said they reiterated during questioning that they left Kerala together few days ago and visited Darjeeling.
He said thereafter they visited Varanasi and then landed in Ayodhya on Monday afternoon. They were staying in a local guest house since Monday evening, he added.
“They could not tell any genuine purpose for their visits to Varanasi and Ayodhya, which are holy places for Hindus. We are trying to ascertain their motive and getting their credentials checked from Kerala police before letting them free”, he emphasised.