AHMEDABAD: The city police were trying for some time to get information from Maulana Halim in connection with some confidential reports they had received but they arrested him only after the serial bomb blasts.
"In their records, the police have labelled him as someone who is 'wanted' in connection with cases related to the communal riots of 2002. The Danilimda police, however, have been in constant touch with him," said Hanif Sheikh, a close friend of Maulana Halim. "If the Maulana was actually 'wanted' in connection with cases related to the communal riots of 2002, he was always there for the police to arrest and interrogate for information about terrorist plans. Why was he arrested only after the blasts?"
The DCB records show him as 'wanted' in connection with a riot-related case in which three persons, Sahid Ahmed Bakshi, Farhan Ahmad Ali and Hafiz Tahir, are accused of trying to send children orphaned by the riots to other places for terrorist training.
The DCB arrested the trio from New Delhi on December 4, 2002. The three had allegedly hatched a conspiracy to take revenge for the loss of Muslim lives and property during the riots. The three are alleged to have visited different relief camps for riot victims in search of orphaned children who could be picked up for Jehadi training.
The Maulana was then running a relief camp in Behrampura area. Farhan and Hafiz had contacted the Maulana, too, to find out about children who had lost their parents during the riots. It is in this connection that the Maulana is shown as 'wanted' in police records.
The Dalmidia police, in fact, had written to him on June 27, 2008, seeking details about some persons who were recruited to his organisation, Markz-e-Ehlehadees, as members.
