Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: Notwithstanding claims that the alleged Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist arrested from Gorakhpur was actually returning home via Nepal under the J&K government`s rehabilitation policy for surrendered militants, Delhi Police sources said on Saturday that Sayyed Liyaqat Shah had big terror plans to execute.
Sources said Shah had received training in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and that he had been instructed by his handlers to target crowded areas of Delhi around Holi, including a popular mall in South Delhi and Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi.
The Delhi Police have already launched a hunt for six other suspected terrorists who are believed to be hiding in the capital.
The police had on Thursday midnight raided a guest house in Jama Masjid area and recovered arms and ammunition. However, the occupants of the room from where the ammunition was seized could not be arrested.
Police believe they could be suicide bombers and may target the capital on Holi.
The revelations have come amidst a row over whether Liyaqat Shah was planning a terror strike in Delhi or he was coming to surrender.
Shah`s wife Ameena Begum told a news agency that her husband was returning home under the state government`s rehabilitation policy via Nepal and there was no question of him carrying any weapons.
"My husband was picked up by some gunmen six years after our marriage around 15 years ago. After some years, we received a letter from him saying he was in Pakistan and was working as a labourer in Mansehra," she said.
"After mobile phones started working in the Valley, we used to occasionally receive calls from him confirming his welfare and his desire to return home," Ameena said.
"We filed an application with the authorities in Kupwara district requesting that Liyaqat be allowed to return home under the rehabilitation policy."
"Authorities accepted our request and said he must return to India via Nepal and thereafter he would be helped to re-join his family. Now we are hearing that police have arrested him in Delhi with some weapons," Ameena said.
"There is no question of my husband returning to India with any weapon at all since he was coming home under the state government`s rehabilitation policy and that too through Nepal."
Shah, 47, was arrested by the Delhi Police from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh on March 20. A court has sent him in 15 days` police remand.
(With IANS inputs)
