Special cells arrest 4 students planning to attack Kumbh Mela

Haridwar, Jan 21: The Special Cell of Delhi police has allegedly arrested four youths, all college students, from Uttarakhand's Haridwar, on charges of plotting an attack on the Ardh Kumbh mela.

In fact, they were also said to have planned an attack on the trains bringing pilgrims to the four-month long festival that started early this month. The four have been identified as Akhlaq-ur-Rehman, Mohammed Osama, Mohammed Azim Shah and Mohamad Mehraj.

While Akhlaq belongs to Bhagwanpur Chandanpur village, Mehraj and Azim belong to Landhura. Meanwhile, Osama is a resident of Jarosa of Haridwar district. All of them are between the age if 18-22. Arvind Deep, Special Commissioner, Special Cell says,"We have arrested the accused on January 19. It is too early to comment about which organisation they are from. However what we can say at this point is that Central Intelligence Agencies had received credible input about the possible attacks."

The youths have been booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, which does not include the Arms Act as no weapons were recovered from them. The accused were sent to a 15-day jail custody by the court today.

Not naming any terror group to which the four may belong, Deep further said,"The four suspects were tracked down with inputs from a central intelligence agency. They had planned to carry out terror attacks at the Ardh Kumbh mela, trains heading towards Haridwar passing through Roorkie and some strategic locations in Delhi."He further added,"The national capital faces threat until the entire module is busted."

All the four are studying in local colleges. Akhlaq is pursuing a diploma in polytechnic, and the other three are also pursiong their graduation for local colleges. IG Garhwal Sanjay Gunjyal said,"After collecting the information about key locations of Haridwar, the four were planning to purchase materials required for terror activity."

OneIndia News