Investigators Eyes On Maulana’s Connection To Hyderabad Blasts

Hyderabad Blasts Investigators are trying to link Maulana Naseeruddin role and kept him in their lens of suspection. This was clicked in view of his prayer meeting held recently after Afzal Guru hanging. 

Investigators are reportedly trying to find out whether Maulana Mohammed Naseeruddin, known in police circles as an ideologue of militancy, and his followers have any role in the twin blasts that killed 16 persons and left over 125 injured.
    
“No one has contacted me. I am open to any investigation as I have nothing to hide,” the Maulana said when asked if he was approached by any investigator. Sources in the teams investigating the blasts told HNN that they were trying to get details of the persons who had joined Maulana Naseeruddin in offering funeral prayers in absentia for Afzal Guru, the Parliament attack case convict who was hanged on February 9. The funeral prayer that was organized at Ujale Shah Eidgah grounds the following day was attended by a small group, mostly locality residents. 
    
Maulana Naseeruddin was arrested in November 2004 in the Haren Pandya murder conspiracy case and lodged in Sabarmati prison. He was acquitted by courts five years later. 
    
There was no change in the conduct and routine of the Maulana since his return to his Saidabad residence in the Old City. He conducts Dars-e-Koran (Koran explanation) sessions in the local mosques and runs a religious school for girls. When Osama Bin Laden was killed by the US forces in Pakistan in May 2011, the Maulana had organized funeral prayer in absentia for him. Also, following reports that Muslims were being massacred in Myanmar, he conducted prayers for them and asked Muslims to participate in their rehabilitation. 
    
Given his past record of rigid stand on local, national and international issues related to Islam, the police have never left him off from their surveillance. He was first jailed under TADA when he held a prayer meeting protesting the demolition of Babri Masjid in 1993. Sensing that he had turned into a hardliner Jamaat-e-Islami Hind expelled him from its membership. He joined Tahreek-e-Tahaffuz Shuayar-e-Islam, a Saharanpur (UP) based organization formed by the retired members of Student Islamic Movement of India (Simi). The organization became defunct when over 120 of its members were arrested following the murder of Haren Pandya, the then home minister of Gujarat. After their release they regrouped and formed into Wahdat-e-Islami Hind with the objective to unite all Muslim organizations. Maulana Naseeruddin is the head of Wahdat-e-Islami Hind in AP. 
    
Maulana Naseeruddin has four sons and two daughters. His eldest son Imaduddin Amir is a mechanic while his other sons have been accused of militant activities. Muqueemuddin Yasir and Baleeghuddin Jaber—were acquitted in a case of criminal conspiracy in Indore, Madhya Pradesh and had returned to Hyderabad last year. His youngest son, Raziuddin Nasir, an alleged IM operative, is an undertrial in Ahmedabad bomb blast case from 2008. He is lodged in Sabarmati prison. 
    
The Maulana claims that he is a victim of bias and injustice by police and the administration. “My life and works are an open book. I have never preached terrorism. But I do speak whenever there is injustice. If somebody wants to believe otherwise, what can I do?” he asked.