Identified as Ariz Khan alias Junaid and Asadullah Akhtar alias Asadullah Khan, the two were closely linked with the Indian Mujahideen and have been on the run for the past three and a half years since the Batla House encounter. While Junaid carries a reward of Rs 5 lakhs on his head, the Delhi police had also announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh on Asadullah.
The revelation about their presence in Uttar Pradesh was made after their relatives approached Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, whose help has been sought for their intended surrender before a Delhi court where several cases against the two were pending.
Besides Batla House, Junaid was allegedly involved in the 2008 blasts in Jaipur (May 13), Ahmedabad (July 26) and Delhi (September 13), while Asadullah was a key suspect in the Batla House case alone.
Making no bones about using his contacts in Samajwadi Party to have the victims' appeals heard by the SP supremo Asadullah's father Dr Javed Akhtar told a scribe in his hometown, Azamgarh, "Both Junaid's
family and I have made a formal written appeal to Mulayam Singh Yadav ji to save our boys who have been framed in the Batla House case."
Even as he claimed to have had no contact with his son or Junaid ever since they went underground, he said, "We have reason to believe that the Anti-Terrorism Squad has been out to gun down the boys in an encounter. The only way their innocence could be proved and they could get justice was the court of law, before which I believe they would
be
ready to surrender."
Significantly, since the case was under the jurisdiction of a Delhi court, what they were seeking was a "safe" passage to the capital. And Mulayam Singh Yadav alone could ensure that by telling the Uttar Pradesh ATS to look the other way, while the two surfaced out of their hideouts and head for Delhi.
"Waseem Ahmad, minister of state for basic education, was helping us out to have a word with the SP president, who had very clearly stated in his election manifesto that he would ensure reprieve for all such Muslim boys who were falsely implicated in different cases of terrorism," pointed out Dr Akhtar, who is among the leading medical practitioners in Azamgarh.
Interestingly, nine of the 12 youths wanted by the Delhi police in connection with the infamous Batla House case have their roots in Azamgarh. Of these, three were apprehended by the UP police, who eventually handed them over to their counterparts in Delhi. Apparently convinced that most of the suspects were in the hiding in UP's notorious Azamgarh district, the Delhi ATS were banking heavily on further assistance from their UP counterparts.
Significantly, four other suspected terrorists, who were on the "wanted" list of the Delhi police, also hail from Azamgarh. Identified as Mohalmmad Khalid, Dr Shahnawaz, Mirza Shadab Beg and Mohammad Sajid alias Imam Saheb, each of them were carrying a reward of Rs 1lakh on their head.
While state officials were tight-lipped on the issue, informed sources claimed that instructions have already been issued to the UP ATS sleuths camping in Azamgarh to keep it mum for now.
