Mahesh Devi of Kankar Khera in Meerut district, who had claimed that the jailed Jaish-e-Mohammad militant Abid, a.k.a Fattey, was actually her son Praveen who had gone missing in 2006, was taken to me
Mahesh Devi of Kankar Khera in Meerut district, who had claimed that the jailed Jaish-e-Mohammad militant Abid, a.k.a Fattey, was actually her son Praveen who had gone missing in 2006, was taken to meet Abid on Sunday in Lucknow jail.
The jailed militant denied that he was her son though he admitted that he had a distinct resemblance with her missing son. Mahesh Devi has now demanded a DNA test to decide if he was her son.
“We showed Abid my son Praveen’s photograph and he agreed that there was an uncanny resemblance. Even the dialect he spoke is close to what we speak, but he denied being my son. He may have refused to accept the truth due to police pressure,” said Mahesh Devi after meeting the militant.
Praveen’s brother Pawan said that Abid’s height and body structure was similar to that of his missing brother.
During the brief meeting, representatives from the jail administration, local intelligence unit, anti-terrorist squad and special task force were also present.
It may be recalled that on an application from Mahesh Devi, the Lucknow district magistrate had agreed to allow a meeting with Abid lodged in the special security barrack in the Lucknow jail.
On July 14, a Lucknow court had sentenced alleged Jaish militants Abid, Saifur Rahman and Mirza Rashid Beg to life imprisonment. The trio had been arrested in Lucknow in 2007 with huge quantity of firearms and explosives.
Mahesh Devi’s son, Praveen Kumar (27), was a private driver who had left with a passenger and was reportedly killed in an encounter near Khajuri Khas near Delhi.
“My husband went to identify the body but found it to be of another person. Since then the family has been running from pillar to post to trace Praveen. We had even approached the NHRC,” the mother said.
It was on July 1 that the family spotted a photograph of the three Jaish militants lodged in Lucknow jail in a Hindi newspaper and recognised Abid as their missing son.
