'Enquiries could have been made without detaining'

MELBOURNE: The wife of Mohamed Haneef, the Indian doctor detained in Australia in connection to a failed terror plot said that he 'could have been interviewed by police while being allowed to work instead of being detained.'

Haneef on Thursday entered his tenth day in detention without charge as the Australian Federal Police (AFP) continue to investigate his suspected links to failed bombings in London and Glasgow.

His wife Firdous Arshiya spoke to him by phone on Wednesday from Bangalore, the first time the couple have spoken since Haneef was arrested at Brisbane Airport with a one-way ticket to India on July 2.

"I just inquired about his health obviously, and he inquired about the health of the family," she said adding, "He's alright, he's fine and doing well."

Arshiya said her husband did not talk about the investigation into his involvement in the terror plot.

"He didn't say anything about all those things, he just talked about his health and said he'd come out soon," she said, according to 'The Australian'.

Arshiya said she would have felt better if he had been doing his job at the hospital, adding "They could have done their inquiry there."

"They could have asked him not to leave Australia and he could've stayed there doing his job and then they could have done the inquiry," she said.

The AFP investigation into the terror plot has now spread to India but the decision to send an officer to the sub-continent caused immediate diplomatic ructions between the two nations, the report said.

Sources told the newspaper that Australia will have to request Indian help through a 'letter rogatory,' a mandatory provision for such help being sought by a sovereign country.

Once Australia submits the rogatory to India through diplomatic channels, New Delhi would direct either the CBI or the Karnataka Police to coordinate with the AFP, the report said.