Nalgonda (Andhra Pradesh): Nalgonda has once again hit the headlines for the wrong reasons. Suspected Laskhar-e-Toiba (LeT) operative and a Nalgonda resident, Mohammad Razhur Rehman was arrested on Januray 2, in connection with the attack at the Indian Institute of Sciences in Bangalore.
Several men from Nalgonda have been arrested in recent years for having links with terrorist organizations.
Nalgonda is a small town in Andhra Pradesh and is considered a backward area. But now it is gaining the distinction of producing the largest number of terrorists in the country after Kashmir.
Relatives and neighbours of Rehman at BTS Nagar in Nalgonda are in a state of shock after he was arrested. His wife Salma Begum says that her husband has been charged for a crime he did not commit.
"I never saw him doing any suspicious activity. I stayed with him in Saudi Arabia for two years where he was working as a salesman. He used to work for three to four days and the remaining time he used to spend with our children and me," Rehman’s wife Salma Begum said.
"We have been married for seven years and I have never found him indulging in any such activity," Salma Begum added.
Rehman’s relatives say he has been working in Bureda, Saudi Arabia, as a salesman for the last 11 years. He had come to Nalgonda for a vacation on October 14, 2005.
The Bangalore Police arrested Rehman on January 2 but his relatives claim that he was arrested on December 31 and the police informed his wife through a telegram, three days later.
According to the police, Rehman has links with LeT leader Ghulam Yezdani, who belongs to Nalgonda but now operates from Bangladesh.
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This arrest has once again exposed how the youth are being recruited by the ISI or its sponsored groups for subversive activities in India.
But Nalgonda's young men have a different version. "This should be first inquired thoroughly. Most of them are false cases. They were falsely implicated and have been kept in custody," Zia, a resident said.
"If they are really involved then why are they being arrested individually? What about their groups? It is a conspiracy to suppress Muslim youth," Akbar, a resident said.
Police records show that ISI and jihadi outfits have operated from Nalgonda for about a decade now.
More than 50 men from this small city have been found having links with the Hizbul Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Toiba and other ISI sponsored groups.
This first came to light in July 1993 when Fasiuddin and Mohammed Ali, the key LeT operatives belonging to Nalgonda were killed in an encounter with the police.
Since then, at least 12 youngsters from Nalgonda have been killed in exchanges with the police and more than 30 are now in prison.
The situation in Nalgonda is very bleak as the local police have no information about the missing youth and also have no clues about the ISI’s recruitment drive in the city.
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