Sandeep alias Adil was arrested in Jammu and Kashmir on allegations of working to build an LeT network in India. PTI file photo.
The family of the alleged Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operative Sandeep Sharma alias Adil, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district, who was arrested in Jammu & Kashmir earlier this week, has been facing ''social boycott'' after the revelation even as the police stepped up its efforts to ascertain if Sharma had built any local network.
According to the reports, the neighbors and other acquaintances of the family have been keeping away from it after the revelation that Sharma was an alleged terrorist.
''None of the neighbors....not even the relatives came to meet us...Sandeep may have done something wrong but we are in no way involved,'' said Sandeep's mother Premvati.
She said that her family members had become ''suspect'' in the eyes of the local people. ''We are facing a social boycott,'' said Sharma's 'bhabhi' (brother's wife) Rekha in Muzaffarnagar.
Police sources in Muzaffarnagar said that four people had been detained for questioning on suspicion of having links with Sharma. ''We are trying to ascertain if Sharma has built any local network,'' said a senior police official.
The official said that around half a dozen youths had left for J&K from Muzaffarnagar and and adjoining districts with Sandeep. ''We are trying to find out if they have returned,'' the official added.
Sources said that Sandeep had virtually abandoned his family after he had come into contact with a Kashmiri woman while living in the valley.
Police had earlier Premvati and Rekha but released them later after questioning them. Sandeep's brother Praveen Kumar Sharma, who was an auto driver at Haridwar town in the neighboring state of Uttarakhand, was also also let off after being quizzed.
Sandeep, who had left his home in Muzaffarnagar around eight years back, was incidentally the first non-local and non-Muslim, who was allegedly involved in militancy in Kashmir.