Beef ban: Religious preacher accused of radicalising youth arrested

Mumbai, Nov 3: A religious preacher accused of radicalizing youth has been arrested from Pusad, Maharashtra.

The religious preacher, Hafiz Rehman was accused of radicalizing a youth as a result of which a constable was stabbed in protest against the beef ban in Maharashtra.

The arrest was carried out by the Maharashtra ATS which was provided with intelligence inputs about Rehmna's location.

One constable was stabbed at Pusad recently by Abdul Mallik on September 25. Investigations have shown the stabbing was to protest the ban on beef in Maharashtra.

The ATS officer said that their probe had shown that there was a process of radicalization involved which led to the stabbing.

Maulana questioned:

The Maulana is being questioned by the ATS for more leads into the case. The investigators had said that the youth who had stabbed the constable was part of the Electronic Warfare Group which is a wing of the SIMI.

ATS officials say that they are probing to find out if this was a one off incident or was there a pattern to it. The Maulana has been accused of delivering sermons in a bid to radicalize the youth and ensure that they protested the beef ban in a violent manner.

When the constable was stabbed, Mallik allegedly told him, " take this now that your government has banned beef."

Ending the propaganda:

The ATS wants to ensure that the propaganda that is being floated by some persons to protest the beef ban needs to be stopped.

We have intelligence inputs that suggest that some sections are trying to misguide the youth to create law and order trouble in Maharashtra.

The SIMI has been looking for an issue to bounce back. It created the Electronic Warfare Group to radicalize youth on the internet.

We are keeping a close watch on their activities both on the ground as well online, the officer stated while adding that the probe was on.

OneIndia News