Elhi man held for threat o blow up Lko temples

A 32-year-old Delhi staying in Lucknow was sted on Thursday allegedly ending anonymous letters to up the Aliganj Hanuman le and the Mankameshwar ple in the state capital and t other Hindu organisations places if his demand to se five people arrested from now for their alleged terror links last month was not met, said senior police officials.

They said he had wanted his demand fulfilled before August 15.The management of the Aliganj Hanuman temple received the threat letter on July 28 while the management of Mankameshwar temple in Hasanganj got a similar letter on July 29. The Lucknow police beefed up security at the two temple premises after the threat letters.

A Lucknow police commissionerate press note said the suspect was identified as Mohd Shafique, a resident of Seelampur in Delhi.

He was staying in Lucknow’s Beekhapurwa village under the Bakshi Ka Talab police station limits. The police also claimed to have recovered some extremist literature from him which suggested he was associated with some extremist organisations.

Additional deputy commissioner of police (ADCP), North, Prachi Singh said the suspect was tracked down after retrieving video footage from a CCTV camera installed near Triveninagar post office in Lucknow from where the letters were posted on July 27. Singh said the suspect was visible in the footage, wearing a mask and cap to conceal his identity while visiting the post office to post the letters.

She said he was booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 153-A for promoting enmity between different classes, 153-B for imputations, 295-A for deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs, 505 (1) (B) for causing fear among public, 505 (2) for public mischief and 507 for issuing threat through anonymous letters.

Another police official privy to the investigation said he was suspected to have remained associated with five terror suspects — Minhaz, Maserudeen, Shakeel Hussain, Mohammed Mustakeem and Mohammed Mueed— in the past. He said the suspect’s cell phone would be sent for cloning to know about his frequent callers and other links.

He also said the UP Anti-terrorism Squad (ATS) had been informed about his arrest and they had further interrogated him about his suspected links with the five terror suspects.

He said the terror suspects were arrested on July 11 and 13 allegedly for planning serial blasts at different places in the state before Independence Day.