The family of a religious scholar from Hyderabad Moulana Mohammed Naseeruddin is back in the news with the Hyderabad police arresting his eldest son Mohamed Muqeemuddin Yasser on the charges of conspiracy to wage war against the nation and two other cases.
While Moulana Naseeruddin himself is in Ahmedabad jail and undergoing trial on a criminal conspiracy case in Gujarat, another of his sons Mohammd Raziuddin Nasir is in Belgam jail in Karnataka for the last six months on the suspicion of his links with terrorist activities.
The Hyderabad city police commissioner B Prasad Rao confirmed the arrest of 28 year old Yasser on Wednesday, a day after a group of plain clothed policemen had whisked him away from outside his mechanical workshop in Aghapura area of Hyderabad.
The sudden disappearance of Yasser had created panic among his family members as the police had denied having taken him in to custody last month.
All attempts by Yasser's mother Tasneem Fatima and wife Ayesha to contact the higher police officials and get his arrest confirmed came to a naught as the police expressed ignorance about the incident.
But Tasneem Fatima was sure that the arrest was the handiwork of police. "After closing the workshop my son had called me and said he will reach home in half an hour. Three minutes later he again called and could only say that he was arrested by the police. But after that his cell phone was snatched away and switched off," she said.
An angry Tasneem Fatima had threatened that if his son's arrest was not declared by Wednesday and he was not produced in the court, she along with the other women and children in the family will go on an indefinite hunger strike before the police commissioner's office.
Alleging that the state government and the police were out to destroy her family, Tasneem said, "Let the police gather all my family member and shoot us. This will be better than the constant harassment and arrest of one family member after the other."
Yasser's wife Ayesha expressed fear that her husband's life was in serious threat. Fearing protest by the women in Saeedabad area of old city, where Moulana Naseeruddin's family lived, the police was put on alert and additional pickets were deployed.
The family members said that the "kidnap like arrest" of Yasser was pre-planned. "Earlier in the day some policemen came to our house asking where Moulana Naseeruddin was and whether he was released on bail. We asked them why they were adding salt to our wounds. Then they left the place," said Tasneem Fatima.
Fearing protest and trouble, the police announced the arrest of Yasser on Wednesday afternoon. A press note from the police said that Yasser was accused and wanted in three criminal cases.
They include the case of criminal conspiracy to wage war against the government of India registered at Gopalpuram, a case of rioting during the funeral of Mujahid Saleem, killed by Gujrat police in 2004, and case of attempt to kill policemen in front of the DGP office in 2004.
However, earlier Yasser's name did not figure in any of these cases and the police was not able to explain why he was not arrested during the last four years when he was very much present in the city.
The Gopalpuram police later produced Yasser in a Secunderabad court where he was remanded to judicial custody for two weeks.