Shia Waqf Board chairman Waseem Rizvi. (Source: ANI/File)
The Delhi Police Special Cell on Friday claimed to have arrested three persons for allegedly planning to kill Uttar Pradesh’s Shia Waqf Board chairman at the behest of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. According to police, the three Dawood aides, identified as Aarif, Avtar, and Saleem, were arrested from UP’s Bulandshahr on Friday. DCP (special cell) PS Kushwaha confirmed the arrest.
Police said three pistols with live cartridges were recovered from their possession. “We are trying to ascertain what was the actual reason for this conspiracy,” said a police officer.
In January, Rizvi had lodged a complaint with Lucknow police about alleged threatening phone calls by a man on behalf of Dawood Ibrahim. This came after Rizvi wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggesting that madarsas should be shut down as it bred terrorists.
The Chairman of Shia Waqf Board Waseem Rizvi had written to PM Narendra Modi and CM Yogi Adityanath, seeking abolition of the concept of madrasas, he demanded that madrasas be registered as mainstream schools under state CBSE, ICSE and state boards.
In his letter, Rizvi wrote: “In India, certain organisations and ‘Kattarpanthi Mullahs’ are taking Muslim children away from the mainstream in the name of madrasa education. The level of education of Muslim children in madrasas is so low that instead of general society, they are moving towards radicalism.”
Rizvi had also commented on the Babri Masjid demolition issue.