Of a terrorism probe and a tea vendor

A tea vendor is providing Karnataka cops' a fillip on terror investigations.

Shoukath Shakeel, a tea vendor, is the latest entry into the alleged terror scenario in Karnataka. He has given the police vital clues about the various meetings held by terror suspects in the state.

Shakeel, who dropped out of school before completing his 10th standard, used to serve food and tea whenever meetings used to take place at the terror camp. Besides this, he also used to double as an electrician.

He was picked up by the Corps of Detectives (a special wing of the state police) and subject to a narco analysis test. The test indicated that Shakeel was just part of the meetings and was not directly involved in the network.

Although he could not share much about the operations planned by the terror suspects, who are now in police and judicial custody, he did reveal at length about the discussions that took place there.

He revealed that discussions were mainly about strengthening the organization (SIMI). Most of the meetings were held at Hubli, a city in the north of Karnataka. They discussed that more people ought to be recruited into the set up in order to make it a force to reckon with.

He added that Yahya Khan and Adnan took part in the meetings. Khan is the software engineer, who was arrested recently by the police. He is also the president of the banned outfit, SIMI, in Karnataka. Adnan is the man police believe is the head of all the people arrested in state on terror charges

Shakeel also said during the test that there were discussions regarding the various attacks being carried out on Muslims and on strategies to retaliate.