Zila parishad teacher leader of IS module: ATS

AURANGABAD: The state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Tuesday said the arrested Hingoli zilla parishad (ZP) teacher is the mastermind of the IS module in Parbhani.

Mohammed Raeesuddin Mohammed Siddiq (37), the arrested accused, was produced before the special court in the afternoon and remanded in four-day custody.

Sources said during interrogation, arrested IS suspects Naser Bin Abu-Bakr Yafai (31), Mohammed Shahed Ali Khan (24) and Iqbal Ahmed Kabir Ahmed (28) named him as their their ring leader.

The development has stunned the agencies that have now started scanning all the contacts of the arrested suspects.

A senior intelligence officer said, "The trend of self-motivated extremists with no specific trigger factor pushing them towards extremism is worrying. Following a series of arrests by the ATS, the agency has been put on high alert. We are keeping an eye on the suspected fringe elements."

While seeking Raeesuddin's custody, the ATS stated in the court that the three arrested IS suspects were indoctrinated by him. "An officer said, "The teacher avoided meeting the suspects on a daily basis. He would meet them as and when needed for discussing plans and communicated with them using cellphone-based social networking applications."

The officer said Raeesuddin used to meet them at an open space in the vicinity of Madina Paati in Parbhani.

According to ATS officials, primary investigations have revealed that some of the documents seized from the house of Iqbal Ahmed Kabir on Sunday were handwritten by Raeesuddin, who was working as an English teacher at a Zilla Parishad high school in Hingoli since 2013.

The teacher has been living in a rented accommodation in Azam Colony of Hingoli and was rounded up after questioning for a few hours. Sources said a team comprising ATS officials from Mumbai, Hingoli, Parbhani and Nanded were involved in rounding up of the suspect from his house.

Sources in the ATS sources that in June and July, Raeesuddin took four leaves apart from the regular weekly offs and government holidays. "We will focus on finding out what exactly he did after taking leaves," said an officer privy to the investigation.

On collecting details about the arrested teacher, ATS officials found he was in the teaching profession for over a decade and was absorbed in government job in 2003. Earlier, he has served in Aundha Nagnath for a few years before being transferred to the Hingoli-based ZP school. He has been teaching English to secondary school students since 2013.