NEWSLINKS US EDITION COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
The Indian Government has imposed a ban on the Deendar Anjuman, a city-based organisation, which was allegedly responsible for a series of bomb blasts at places of worship in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka during May-June last year.
The organisation, with its headquarters at Asifnagar in the city, has been outlawed under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act for a year. The ban orders were issued on April 27 and notified in the Central gazette on April 29, according to official sources.
However, till Thursday afternoon, the Deendar Anjuman had not receive the ban orders.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (west zone) Umesh Sharraf also said he had no information on the order.
"We have no intimation so far. I cannot comment further. The question of follow-up action does not arise till we receive relevant orders," he pointed out.
The Deendar Anjuman came into focus when its activists allegedly exploded or planted bombs at religious meetings and places of worship as part of a plan to create communal flare-ups in the country and to antagonise the Christian community. The police claimed that the activists had the backing of the Inter-Services Intelligence of Pakistan and worked under the leadership of Pakistani-trained activist Khaliq-uz-Zaman of Nuzvid town in Andhra Pradesh.
However, Deendar functionaries denied any role in the incidents and claimed that it was a sect practising and preaching Islam, to unite people of all religions in the country.
But the police charged Deendar activists with involvement in 21 offences in the state, including seven blasts at places of worship, including a Christian congregation at Machilipatnam, churches at Vikarabad, Medak, Ongole and Tadepalligudem, a temple at Vijayawada and a mosque at Guntur.
Other cases pertained to the desecration of Ambedkar statues in various towns, besides dacoity cases. The Crime Investigation Department, which investigated the cases, has filed the chargesheet in 12 cases, after examining 447 witnesses. Three hundred documents were filed in the special court, constituted for the trial of these offences.
Of the 50 accused, seven are Pakistanis, 37 hail from Andhra Pradesh, five Karnataka and one Maharashtra.
Two of the accused died while travelling in a Maruti van, after allegedly planting explosives at a religious place in Bangalore, while three are absconding.
Andhra Pradesh police arrested 29 accused and the Karnataka police nabbed nine others accused.
Nine of the accused were in government service, including a former warrant officer in the Indian Air Force.
An accused is a doctor and another an engineer. Of those arrested, 18 persons had visited Pakistan and were trained in the use of explosives, according to the CID.
In the course of investigations, a huge quantity of explosive materials, improvised timer devises, incriminating documents, CDs and floppies were seized.
The outfit, which was making efforts to spread its network in the south, was allegedly collecting funds and donations from its members.
Investigations into the serial blasts were carried out in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra, by special teams of the CID. The Deendar activists had also allegedly been involved in bomb blast cases in churches at Wadi and Bangalore in Karnataka, as well as in Goa.
The Deendar Anjuman, founded by Syed Siddique Hussain in 1924 at Gadag in Karnataka, has its headquarters at Hyderabad. This outfit was working with a "hidden agenda", to destabilise the country by creating chaos and communal discord, according to the CID. The incriminating literature, it stated, claimed that the outfit would pave the way for the invasion of India by a 900,000-strong force of Pathans.
You may also want to see Cult for the communal AP to seek Interpol aid against Deendar Anjuman 'Bandaru attended Deendar Anjuman meet' Back to top
Back to top
Tell us what you think of this report
