Proud of slain terror suspect’s father: Rajnath

New Delhi: Home minister Rajnath Singh showed political acumen on Thursday when, in his statement in Lok Sabha on the recent incidents in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, he avoided mentioning any terror outfit. Though the Madhya Pradesh police has linked the arrested suspects with ISIS, Mr Singh said the train blast was an act of a “suspected terrorist gang”.

According to an intelligence source, the home minister avoided mentioning any terror group so as to not hamper the on-going investigations.

He did, however, say that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) would take up the probe into the Lucknow encounter in which an alleged ISIS operative, Saifullah, was killed by the state anti-terror squad. The NIA will also investigate the Tuesday blast on the Bhopal-Ujjain train in MP. In his statement, Mr Singh also applauded Saifullah’s father, Sartaj Mohammed, for refusing to accept his son’s body, saying, “A traitor cannot be my son, straight and simple. If he was not loyal to the country how can be to the family?”

“I express my sympathy on behalf of the government and the House will also express sympathy. He lost his son due to terror activities. The government and the House is proud of people like Sartaj,” Mr Singh said.

In Kanpur, Sartaj Mohammed offered his thanks to Mr Singh, stating, “This message should be for the whole country. Ordinary people like us are being given respect by ministers.”

The home minister also said in his statement that prompt investigations and co-ordination among state and central agencies into the train blast and subsequent operations in Lucknow had averted a major threat to national security.

The home minister informed Parliament that initial investigation into the train blast had revealed that the accused persons had used an IED prepared by using locally available explosives.

MP police co-ordinated with central agencies for investigation of the incident.  Subsequently, based on intelligence, three suspects were taken into custody during vehicle checking at Pipariya, in Hoshangabad district.  Their interrogation indicated their involvement in the incident and they were arrested.

Based on their statement and other information available, the UP police initiated action in Lucknow, Etawah, Kanpur and Auraiya. The police recovered a huge cache of arms from the house where Saifullah was eliminated. According to the home minister’s statement, the recovery included eight pistols, 630 live cartridges and other material which included cash of `1.5 lakh, about 45 grams gold, three mobile phones, four sim cards, two wireless sets and some foreign currency was recovered.

Mr Singh claimed that so far UP police has arrested six persons in connection with the case from Kanpur, Etawah and Auraiya.