‘Cleric’s son’ among 4 held, cops probe terror links

Nasir was arrested in Hubli after his roommate, Mohammed Asadullah, 23, hailing from Hospet in Karnataka, was nabbed on January 13 in the course of an investigation into motorcycle thefts in Honnali area of Davangere.

According to Davan-gere police, they initially thought Asadullah, a dropout from the Ayurved Mahavidyalaya in Hubli, was stealing motorcycles for money but later found that he had not sold the stolen bikes.

Asadullah led Davangere police to his rented house in Hubli and to Ziauddin Nasir, who claimed to be working as a cook for Asadullah, police sources said. They also claim to have found inflammatory literature at the premises.

Following these arrests, police say they were led to the hostel rooms of two final year medical students of Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences — Mohammed Asif, a native of Raichur in Karnataka and Mirza Ahmed Baig. According to the police, jihadi literature was found in the hostel room of Md Asif.

However, the key link in the case is between Nasir and Maulana Naseeruddin, currently lodged in the Sabarmati prison in Gujarat. The Maulana is the founder-president of Tahreek Tahfooz Shaer-e-Islam (TTSI), a Hyderabad based organisation.

Sources in Hyderabad confirmed that one of the four sons of Maulana Naseeruddin was called Nasir but failed to provide his current location.