Lucknow encounter: Slain terror suspect was self-radicalised, says UP police; Saifullah's father refuses to take body

UP Police's ADG (Law and Order) Daljit Chaudhary on Wednesday in a press conference confirmed that terror suspect Saifullah was self-radicalised.

Lucknow: UP Police's ADG (Law and Order) Daljit Chaudhary on Wednesday in a press conference confirmed that slain terror suspect Saifullah was self-radicalised.

Daljit Chaudhary added that the police has no such evidence yet of any ISIS link with slain terror suspect Saifullah.

Also, police confirmed that heavy arms and ammunition including 8 pistols, more than 600 cartridges, bomb making instruments, pellets, timers, wires have been recovered from the encounter site in Lucknow's Thakurganj.

Moreover, police recovered 3 passports from the site.

The ADG confirmed that raids were conducted in Kanpur and Etawah on the information given by Madhya Pradesh Police.

"45 grams gold and foreign currency also recovered from the spot," the ADG confirmed.

"4 people were staying in the house, several people visited the terror suspects," the ADG added.

Lucknow anti-terror operation

A suspected ISIS terrorist was killed in a house on the outskirts of Lucknow after a 12-hour long operation to capture him alive.

The terror suspect Saifullah was killed in an exchange of fire with the police. He is suspected to be linked with the blast in the Bhopal-Ujjain train on Tuesday, police said.

"The anti-terror operation was being monitored by senior officials. Now after opening the doors of the house (where the terrorist was holed up), the force has gone inside the house, and the suspect has been found dead along with his weapons," Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Daljit Chaudhary said.

He said at one point of time it appeared that more than one person was holed up inside the house.

"The operation stands closed now. Rest of the legal formalities will subsequently take place," Chaudhary said.

Speaking to reporters after the anti-terror operation, IG ATS Aseem Arun said, "Efforts were made to catch the suspected terrorist (identified as Saifullah) alive, but unfortunately this did not materialise. We fired tear gas shells and chilly bombs, so that he comes out. But, he did not come out." 

The ATS commandoes then stormed inside the house (after issuing a warning to the terrorist), Arun said.

"The suspected terrorist then fired at the ATS commandoes, which was then appropriately retaliated by the ATS commandoes. After this, two rooms were thoroughly searched and checked, and the person identified as Saifullah was found dead." 

"The slain terrorist belongs to the Khurasan module of the ISIS and was an active member. But, whether he has been indoctrinated or not is a matter of investigation." 

The IG ATS went on to say that commandoes also saw a wire wrapped around the stomach of the terrorist.

On reports of two terrorists being holed up in the house, the IG ATS, said, "Since we were using tube cameras to ascertain the details (of the suspected terrorists), the image was not very clear, and it appeared that there may be two terrorists holed up in the house. But, when the search and clear operations were carried out, only one body was found." 

Father says 'traitor' not my son

Meanwhile, Saifullah's father Sartaj said today that a traitor could not be his son.

Feeling ashamed of his son's activities, Sartaj refused to take Saifullah's body, saying, "A traitor cannot be related to me, let alone be my son."

He said he would have handed over his son to the police if he had even "an iota of inkling" about his activities.

"My child has done a wrong thing and I have regrets for it... I would have handed him over to the police had I even an iota of inkling about it...The entire world would have seen and noticed how a father could put his own son in police hands," Sartaj told reporters.

"There is no need to hide a disease, else it becomes an incurable wound," Sartaj said.

 "We are Indian citizens. I was born here, my ancestors were born here," he said, adding, "Almost everyone in the family is sad. But it is more shame than sadness for what he has done."

He said even his neighbours are wondering as to how this could have happened to a son belonging to a decent family.

On his decision not to take the body, he said he was not concerned about what relatives would say.

(With Agency inputs)