Rashtrapati Bhawan map found with jail inmate in UP

Lucknow, June 9: A jailed undertrial from West Bengal was found in possession of maps related to Rajpath and Rashtrapati Bhawan and sketches of BSF posts on Indo-Bangla border, after which Uttar Pradesh police has sent a team to the eastern state to probe the matter.

During the state-wide checking of jails on June 7, police authorities found maps of Rajpath and Rashtrapati Bhawan besides sketches of BSF posts from Saddiq Ali (25) who is lodged in Moradabad jail in connection with a murder case for past four years.

Ali, who belongs to West Bengal was arrested in 2011 for allegedly killing his colleague Imran over some dispute in Sambhal district. Notes in Hindi, Mandarin and Bengali were also recovered from his bag along with two cellphone memory cards, police said.

We have sent a team to West Bengal to probe his background: UP Police

"We have sent a team to West Bengal to probe his background while state ATS has also been alerted. The maps recovered from him is a route map of New Delhi," DIG (Moradabad range) Onkar Singh told PTI today.

When asked about the notes in Mandarin, Ali told police he knew a Chinese national who taught him the language. IG (Law and Order) A Satish Ganesh said in Lucknow that he had downloaded the map from Google website.

As per initial probe, Ali told police and intelligence that he and his father Nasir Ali moved to Sambhal (UP) a few years ago and worked as labourer in a meat export firm.

PTI