12 held for seeking support for Osama

Twelve people were arrested for allegedly asking people to support international terror mastermind Osama Bin Laden, police said on Sunday.

On a complaint by one Shahar Qazi Zahiruddin that around a dozen persons were allegedly preaching a 'different version of Islam' at a house in Chopra Mohalla locality, the 12 were arrested on Saturday night, they said.

Raids were then conducted in Bhopal but no clues were found to link them with any terrorist outfit, Superintendent of Police K C Jain said.

He added that teams have been dispatched to Gwalior, Agra, Delhi, Bina and some places in Maharashtra to verify some addresses given by them in other cities.

Local residents claim the accused, while 'preaching different version of Islam', were asking youths to follow the path of Bin Laden and wage war against America.

A delegation of Muslims also submitted a memorandum to District Collector Sandeep Yadav seeking strict action against the accused as 'they were spreading rumours about Islam'.

Those arrested were identified as Saeed Ali and Akhtar Ali of Gwalior, Jamal Ahmed and Mohd Shakil (Delhi), Sheikh Javed, Mohd Haneef, Kaleem Khan and Adil Khan (Bhopal), Mohd Islam alias Gunjan Gupta of Bina, Ram alias Rahim (Raisen), Raees Ahmad of Dhulia in Masharashtra and Mohd Anees of Agra.

The accused were remanded to police custody till June 20, and some women associated with them were being interrogated by intelligence officers, he said.