'UK plot trio gave provocative speeches in B'lore'

The three Bangaloreans who have been held in connection with the UK terror plot had been indoctrinated into the jihadi movement, Karnataka Home Minister M P Prakash said on Tuesday.

"Khafeel Ahmed, his brother Dr Sabeel Ahmed and their cousin, Dr Mohammed Haneef are into jihadi movement as they had been indoctrinated. They (had) attended some meetings and delivered provocative speeches in the city," Prakash told the state assembly, referring to the findings of the probe into the backgound of the trio.

They had not committed any cognizable offence while they were in the city, he said, responding to a query by Opposition Congress leader N Dharam Singh.

The city police who have stepped up probe to unravel the Bangalore link to the UK terror plot have already interrogated parents of the trio, their associates, friends and others who had links with them, he said.

The police have not arrested anyone here in this connection, he added.

The ongoing investigations have led the police to the links the trio had established with several organisations, Prakash said, but refused to name them, remarking 'it is a sensitive issue and information cannot be leaked.'

The DGP has been strictly told that none of the police officials involved in the investigation shall interact with the media, Prakash said.

"It is unfortunate and shocking that people are being motivated by religious fundamentalists to take to terror activities and the educated are being indoctrinated," he said.

"These people have not got education from their own money, tax payers' money has been spent on them by the state," he said, obviously referring to Khafeel, Sabeel and Haneef who were graduated from the city colleges.

The trio had managed to get seats in government quota.            

He said in the aftermath of the IISc terror strike, which claimed the life of an IIT professor, arrest of terrorists in Hampi in Bellary District and Mysore, the government has put the anti-terrorist cell on high alert.

Karnataka would be upgrading the existing ATC into a 'sophiticated vigilance and investigative wing' on the model of the one established in Mumbai, he said.

A wing of the ATC would operate in the periphery of Bruhut Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (Greater Bangalore limits) exclusively, he said, adding that the men drafted into the ATC would get 30 per cent higher pay over their regular pay packet.

The government will fund the education of their children and their families will be given protection, Prakash said.

ATC men would undergo training to tackle terror activities and would be equipped with sophisticated arms, he said.