Hyderabad: A terror suspect allegedly involved in the attack on the Akshardham temple in 2002 and arrested here soon after his arrival from Saudi Arabia has been taken to Gujarat.
A team of Gujarat Police took Shoukatullah Ghouri into its custody and took him to Gujarat around midnight on Saturday, police sources said.
Armed with a non-bailable warrant, the Gujarat Police team arrived in the city hours after Ghouri was arrested at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad on the city outskirts upon his arrival from Jeddah.
Ghouri, who was working as 'imam' or priest at a mosque in Riyadh, was picked up by personnel of anti-terrorist force OCTOPUS soon after he landed along with wife and four children from Jeddah.
He was taken to an undisclosed location where he was grilled by officials of OCTOPUS, counter intelligence and city police. His wife and children were taken to a farmhouse where their baggage was searched and their passports and some educational certificates were seized. They were later released.
Ghouri was later handed over to Gujarat Police as a warrant was pending against him in the Akshardham case. The entire operation was kept top secret till late night in view of a past incident when a mob had tried to prevent a Gujarat Police team from taking into custody a cleric and a suspect in the murder of former Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya. One youth was killed when a Gujarat Police officer had opened fire in that incident of 2005.
Thirty people were killed in the attack on the Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar September 25, 2002. Security forces later killed both the attackers. In 2006, a court in Gujarat sentenced three accused in the case to death.
Hyderabad Police said there was no case pending against Ghouri in the city but he was wanted in the Akshardham case and hence handed over to Gujarat Police. He allegedly had links with terror groups Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed and had fled to Saudi Arabia after the attack on the temple.
Ghouri's family members said he had come to the city for the treatment of his ailing wife. The police also grilled him to know if he was in the city to carry out any attack especially in view of Bonalu and Ganesh festivals.
A resident of Kurmaguda in Saeedabad neighbourhood in the city, Shaukatullah Ghouri is the brother of Farhatullah Ghouri, the most wanted terrorist who allegedly masterminded the blast in Sai Baba temple and suspected suicide attack on the office of the city police Task Force here. Police believe that he is operating from the Gulf or Pakistan.
One person was killed in the temple blast in 2002 while one policeman was killed in the suicide attack on the Task Force office in 2005.
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