Union Home Ministry and Delhi Police have denied reports that Pakistani terror group Lashkar-e-Toiba is in touch with some Muzaffarnagar riot victims and is trying to recruit them. Delhi Police Special Cell Commissioner SN Shrivastava clarified that Liaqat and Zamir who were arrested for being in contact with LeT are not Muzaffarnagar riot victims.
“After receiving inputs from intelligence agencies, we registered a case on criminal conspiracy and being member of a banned organisation. We had caught two individuals from Mewat. After detention we questioned them and did a background check. We found out that some people living in Muzaffarnagar area were in contact with them. They revealed the names of two people who then went to Deoband and contacted Liaqat on phone and had a night stay. Liaqat is a teacher aged 58 working in UP,” said Shrivastava.
Top Home Ministry sources also thrashed the LeT-riot victim story. Sources say there is no evidence to suggest that the Mewati suspects approached any one in the Muzaffarnagar riot relief camps. The suspects called up a resident of Shamli in Uttar Pradesh to join LeT.
The Delhi Police had earlier claimed that there were Intelligence reports about LeT trying to recruit in Western Uttar Pradesh specifically after the Muzaffarnagar riots. It was being said that the terror outfit is trying to infiltrate the communally sensitive areas.
Sources also say that the Intelligence Bureau had intercepted calls that showed Pakistan-based LeT commander JavedBaluchi in touch with operatives in north India.
There have been several riots in the past two years in the state. Sources say that the plan was to make a plan to attack Delhi due to its proximity to the national capital. Police had earlier cracked down the LeT module and arrested two people. It is an ongoing investigation and two or three more arrests are likely to be made soon.
