Bengaluru madrasa teacher, arrested for links with al Qaeda, `innocent`

Pic courtesy: ANI

Bengaluru: A day after the Delhi Police arrested Maulana Anzar Shah for suspected links with al Qaeda, people who knew the madrasa teacher came out in his defence.

One of his students said he was taken by a group of men on Wednesday who claimed to be from Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), Delhi.

The students called Shah a good preacher. "I really don't know why they took him. I think he has wrongly been picked up."

Some regular visitors to the local mosque with which Shah was linked told TV channels that he is "innocent" and hoped he would come out unscathed.

However, another person claimed Shah, aged about 50 and a resident of Iliyasnagar in Banashankari 2nd stage here, was allegedly asked to leave the mosque where he was employed earlier for making hate speeches.

The Maulana, who studied at Darul Uloom, Deoband, UP, was reportedly under the surveillance of intelligence agencies for his "fiery speeches”.

(With PTI inputs)