Cops want to grill Haneef, 2 other accused together

Mumbai crime branch officials want to conduct a joint interrogation of Mohammed Haneef, a preacher who was arrested for indoctrinating a Mumbai-based youngster on August 13, and other two accused, whom they will bring from Kerala on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Esplanade Court extended Haneef’s police custody till August 26.

On Tuesday, the Mumbai crime branch asked for three days’ custody of Haneef as officials told the court that they were bringing two suspected ISIS sympathisers, Aarshi Qureshi and Rizwan Khan, to the city from Kerala on Wednesday morning and they wanted to quiz all three men jointly.

An official from Mumbai crime branch said, “His interrogation is taking place at a slow pace due to the language barrier. However, he is responding during the interrogation. We have got some numbers, which are overseas in origin, from his mobile phone. We need to check further for details about the same. Also, we wanted to question the three of them together.”

The officer also told the court that the accused had made some cash transaction and the police wanted to investigate this angle further.

Speaking about Haneef’s arrest, a senior Kerala police officer on Tuesday told The Asian Age, on the condition of anonymity, “After the Mumbai police arrested Haneef for allegedly radicalising youth from Mumbai to join ISIS, we initiated an investigation into his activities. We have spoken to his family and checked his records but still didn’t find anything against him. Haneef has been a Salafi preacher for the past few years. Haneef doesn’t seem to have played any role in our case, where 21 youths joined ISIS this year. He didn’t instigate any of them.”