Central agencies stopped UP Police from naming Rahul as Jaish target

According to sources, security officials had been tracking the three militants — Mohammad Abid alias Safadar alias Ayub, Yusuf alias Faisal, and Mirza Rashid Beg alias Raja Kajafi — for almost six months. The trio — all Pakistani nationals — have reportedly confessed that they were planning to kidnap Rahul to secure the release of 42 militants held in various jails.

But the central security agencies reportedly didn’t want to name Rahul as the target. The matter had gone up to the PMO, said sources, and National Security Adviser M K Narayanan was also briefed. But by the time instructions to this effect were passed on to the UP police, it was too late.

Although UP DGP Vikram Singh only said that the militants wanted to kidnap a “VVIP politician of the state”, news that Rahul was the intended target had already been leaked. A few TV channels also aired the footage, reportedly shot in Gudamba police station, showing the militants talking of their plan to kidnap Rahul.

Sources said the Centre was unhappy over these events and IB chief P C Haldhar had spoken to the state DGP on the subject.

The DGP said he had asked the STF SSP, Amitabh Yash, to find out how TV reporters managed to talk to the militants in police custody. He also said the militants’ claim should not be taken seriously. “One can’t trust such statements. They have been trained to face interrogation. They are also trained to mislead the investigation,” he said.

Meanwhile, lawyers assaulted the three militants in the Sessions Court premises while they were being taken by the police to be produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate on Saturday.