Mumbai blasts: We have had enough, says Riyaz Bhatkal’s mom

“We are fed up with our children’s names cropping up whenever there is some trouble in the country, especially related to terror acts. We have told the media, the police and the district administration several times that our family does not have any relations with our sons Riyaz, Iqbal and Yaseen. In our old age, we want to  live peacefully,” mother of the three brothers say.

Riyaz Bhatkal aka Roshan Khan aka Riyaz Shabandri and his two brothers are in the news again in the wake of last Friday’s Mumbai blasts. “Riyaz  has not come to see even his three young children, He does not call, or answer our calls. He has changed his phone number many times and we do not have any clue where he or his brothers are,” mother Sayeeda Begum Shabandri says with tears welling up in her eyes.

Ismail Shabandri, who is in his sixties, still hopes that Riyaz would one day emerge from all the mess and get rid of  the terrorist tag.

“I have not seen him in 14 years. I heard he had come to Bhatkal in 2004 but he did not visit us. But police and intelligence agencies do come very often to our house. All we do is to narrate the stories of his childhood and show them photos of his earlier life. If he has been instrumental in the killing of people I will not approve of it,” he says.

Shabandris stay in Madina Kaloni on Thenginagundi Road.