Proud of Saifullah’s Father For Not Accepting His Body: Rajnath

Speaking in Parliament during the Budget Session on Thursday, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that he is “proud” of slain alleged terrorist Saifullah’s father Mohammed Sartaj for refusing to accept his son’s body.

Singh quoted Sartaj’s statement “Jo desh ka na hua, woh mera kaise ho sakta hai. Usne koi sahi kaam toh kiya nai...”

“I sympathise with Saifullah’s father and hope the House would do so too,” he said.

Uttar Pradesh’s Anti Terrorism Squad, on Wednesday, gunned down Saifullah, holed up in a house in Lucknow’s Thakurganj area after a 12-hour standoff, which began on Tuesday evening.

The anti-terror operation was carried out after the UP Police received a tip-off from Telangana regarding the suspects involved in the Bhopal-Ujjain train blast, which had injured around 10 people on Tuesday. Following this, raids were conducted in different towns and cities, including Etawah, Kanpur etc.

Three arrests were made in Kanpur and nearby areas on Wednesday. A total of six suspects linked to the blast have been nabbed till now.

Police officials have seized an Islamic State flag, eight pistols, 650 rounds of ammo, gold, SIM cards, cash, passports, a train timetable and explosive materials from the site where the encounter had taken place.

Earlier, police claimed that Saifullah was an ISIS Khorasan module terrorist.

ATS ADG Law and Order Daljeet Choudhary later said that the authorities have no evidence to link the suspected terrorists – Imran, Danish, Saifullah and Faisal – to any active module of the ISIS.

Reports said that the Centre censured the UP Police for claiming that the suspects were inspired by the Islamic State terrorist group.

“Officials in both states should have exercised restraint before airing premature comments,” a senior Home Ministry official told Hindustan Times.

A National Investigation Agency team reached Lucknow on Wednesday as further probe is likely to be conducted by them.

Also Read: Saifullah Was Self-Radicalised, Self-Funded, Says UP ATS