On ATS orders, Azamgarh cops open historysheets of four IM suspects

Shahnawaz and Sajid carry a bounty of Rs 10 lakh each on their heads, announced by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The ATS has prepared a list of 25 such suspects which include those who are absconding, in prison as well those acquitted in cases by a court.

Station Officer of Saraimeer police station, Ram Naresh Yadav, said, “Abu Rashid’s historysheet has been opened with number 70A, Shahnawaj’s as 46A, Sajid’s as 37A and Mohammad Rashid’s as 26A. “These four historysheets were opened today on the basis of details provided by UP ATS.”

An ATS official said they are yet to acquire “concrete information” about the whereabouts of the four alleged IM men since after terror cases were lodged against them in different states.

The official, however, claimed that the agency suspects the four are fighting for the Islamic State (IS) in Syria.

Shahnawaz, a Unani doctor and son of a local Samajwadi Party leader in Azamgarh, had allegedly escaped while working at a private hospital in Lucknow when he came to know that two suspects hailing from Azamgarh were killed in a police encounter in New Delhi’s Batla House on September 19, 2008.

According to ATS records, Shahnawaz is wanted in four cases including one lodged at Matunga Road police station in Mumbai, and three others in Delhi. His younger brother Mohammad Saif was arrested from Batla House after the police encounter and is presently behind bars. Mohammad Rashid, a B.Pharma degree holder, too faces four cases including those lodged in Mumbai and Delhi.

Abu Rashid is wanted in four cases including one in Mumbai and three others in Delhi. Rashid is believed to have a 14-year-old child. There were news reports about Mohammad Sajid’s death two years ago while fighting for the IS in Syria. His family in Azamgarh had then claimed that they had no clue regarding the same. Sajid is wanted in six cases including serial blasts in Jaipur and Ahmedabad in 2008, according to ATS records.