The Special Task Force is interrogating a Muslim cleric in connection with his alleged role in the terror attacks in Varanasi, official sources said on Thursday.
The cleric, identified as Waliullah, from the Islamabad locality under the Phulpur police circle area of Allahabad, was taken into custody on Sunday night based on reports of suspicious activities in the past, sources said.
STF picked up Walliullah as soon as he returned home following questioning by the Local Intelligence Unit and police officials at Phulpur police station, they added.
He is being interrogated at an undisclosed location amid charges that he and his family provided refuge to the terrorists in their house in 2001 following which he and his two brothers were booked under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code on sedition charges, the trial of which was still pending with the lower court in Allahabad district.
Meanwhile, Allahabad SSP Vijay Singh Meena told PTI over phone that the alleged suspect in the terror attacks in Varanasi was missing from his house for past six days, but refused to confirm that he had been taken into custody by the STF team, which was probing the terror attacks.
Meena also said that Waliullah's family members had met him and requested his intervention to find out details of his location and also whether he was under the custody of the STF.