Four youth arrested in Uttarakhand for allegedly plotting attacks during Ardh Kumbh

The Special Cell of Delhi police arrested four college students from Uttarakhand's Haridwar district for their alleged plans to carry out attacks during the famous Ardh Kumbh mela. The accused, according to the special cell, were also planning to target the trains bringing pilgrims to the four-month long festival which started earlier this month. The accused have been identified as Akhlaq-ur-Rehman, Mohammed Osama, Mohammed Azim Shah and Mohamad Mehraj. According to police while Akhlaq is a resident of Bhagwanpur Chandanpur village, Azim and Mehraj belong to Landhura . Osama is a native of Jarosa of Haridwar district. All the accused are between 18-22 years of age. "We have arrested the accused on January 19. It is too early to comment about which organisation they are from. However what we can say at this point is that Central Intelligence Agencies had received credible input about the possible attacks," said Arvind Deep, Special Commissioner, Special Cell.

Sources in the Cell told dna that the youth were booked under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act adding charges against the accused does not include arms act indicating that no weapons were recovered from them.

However Special Cell officials said that the inputs about the accused were alarming and timely action taken by their investigators foiled a 'major attack'. The accused were produced in a court here today which sent them to 15 days' police custody

"The four suspects were tracked down with inputs from a central intelligence agency. They had planned to carry out terror attacks at the Ardh Kumbh mela, trains heading towards Haridwar passing through Roorkie and some strategic locations in Delhi," Arvind Deep said.

The Special Cell however did not reveal name of possible terror outfit to which the youth belonged or the recoveries made by its team during the arrest. "The national capital faces threat until the entire module is busted," said Arvind Deep.

While elaborating on the profile of the accused, a senior police official said, "One of the accused, Akhlaq, was pursuing a diploma from a local polytechnic college while the other three are also pursuing their graduation from local colleges in Haridwar district.

IG Garhwal Sanjay Gunjyal while speaking to dna over the phone said that that the accused had conducted a recce of Haridwar district ahead of their alleged plan to attack the mela.

"After collecting the information about key locations of Haridwar, the four were planning to purchase materials required for terror activity," said IG Garhwal Sanjay Gunjyal.

Kamrul Hassan, the elder brother of Akhlaq, one of the accused spoke to dna following the arrest. An engineer by profession , Hassan said, "This is a shock to the entire family. My brother is innocent and wants to be an engineer like me. In fact the last time I saw him was when he was going to give his examination. I had wished him luck and paid him some travel money. In the afternoon I came to know that he has been arrested. Our family is really worried".