Special task force to probe Rahaman's links in Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha police on Monday entrusted the special task force (STF) of the Crime Branch to probe Habibur Rahaman's links in Odisha, if any, after he was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on charges of being a Lashkar-e-Taiba operative.
STF said Rahaman from Kendrapada's Patkura area, had migrated to Saudi Arabia nearly 15 years ago.

While his wife stays in Mumbai, his father lives in Kendrapada village. Rahaman's father was unavailable for comments.

"Our state intelligence wing was aware of Rahaman's terror background and had kept a close watch on his movements. He had virtually snapped contacts with Kendrapada for past several years. Still, the STF will find out whether Rahaman had any associations in Odisha," director general of police R P Sharma told TOI.

The top cop, who is on an official tour to London, said over phone that an STF team would leave for Delhi and discuss with the NIA officers to get details about Rahaman. "We will also try to seek Rahaman's remand for interrogation. Apart from the STF, the state intelligence wing will conduct a joint probe against Rahaman," Sharma said.

The DGP said Rahaman was a close associate of dreaded LeT terrorist Sheikh Abdul Naeem, who was arrested by the NIA in November 2017. Rahaman, who was not a gun-totting cadre, used to arrange shelter/hideouts and funds for Naeem.

Sources said the NIA had tipped the Odisha police about Rahaman's terror background after arresting Naeem in November 2017. The state intelligence wing refused to divulge whether they found any terror contacts of Rahaman after being alerted by the NIA. The state intelligence kept mum when asked about Rahaman's past, personal life and profession when he was staying in Kendrapada.

Odisha police have been on their toes after terrorism emerged as a new challenge in 2015. In January 2014, two Indian Mujahideen operatives allegedly conducted a recee in Puri and Bhubaneswar.

Police received a jolt in January 2015 when Balasore police arrested one Iswar Chandra Behera on charges of leaking vital information from the integrated test range (ITR) in Chandipur to Pakistani intelligence agency ISI. Behera had been working as a contractual cameraman at the ITR, which is among the high-risk category installations in the country.

At the fag-end of 2015, arrest of suspected al-Qaida operative Abdul Rehman from Cuttack pressed the panic button. Terrorism continued to haunt the state following the arrest of five suspected SIMI operatives from Rourkela on February 17, 2016. Almost a year and a half later on November 29, 2017, the NIA raided house of Akhtar Hussain Khan, a resident on Cuttack's Samantrapur village suspecting his link with a terror outfit.