File pic: Heavy security in the aftermath of riots in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh
The Delhi Police today said two imams arrested for alleged links to Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba tried to recruit men in riot-hit Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh.
Teams of the Delhi Police special cell are in Muzaffarnagar to search for more alleged Lashkar operatives who are trying to recruit young men for terror.
Senior Delhi Police officer SN Srivastav said two men from Muzaffarnagar have revealed they were approached by the arrested imams, Mohd Rashid and Mohd Shahid, for a kidnapping plot, and were told that the ransom money could be used to build a mosque.
The two men, Liyaqat, a teacher with the Uttar Pradesh education department, and Zameer, a petty criminal, have deposed before a magistrate in Delhi and turned witnesses against the terror suspects.
The Delhi Police tracked them down after the arrested clerics allegedly confessed that they had been ordered by the Lashkar-e-Taiba to visit Muzaffarnagar. They were allegedly told to meet an old Lashkar operative, Abdul Subhan, who allegedly advised them to make gradual inroads in the riot-affected region.
Rashid and Shahid reportedly made five to six visits to Muzaffarnagar and its neighbouring areas after the September communal clashes which killed nearly 60 people and left 40,000 displaced. They were arrested last month from Mewat in Haryana following inputs from the Intelligence Bureau on terror modules working in Muzaffarnagar and its neighbouring district Shamli.
The Delhi Police revelation added a new twist to the political controversy that unfolded after Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's comments at a rally in October that an intelligence officer had told him about the Pakistani ISI trying to recruit young men whose families suffered in the Muzaffarnagar riots.
"If this is correct, that some people of LeT went to Muzaffarnagar to encourage riot victims then what Rahul Gandhi said was true," said Congress leader Digvijaya Singh.
Uttar Pradesh's ruling Samajwadi Party accused the Congress of politicising the terror arrests.