The Delhi Police said that suspected members of a Lashkar-e-Toiba module in its custody had visited the riot-hit western Uttar Pradesh district of Muzaffarnagar and contacted some residents there. The suspected Lashkar operatives had during their questioning claimed that they visited the region to avenge the suffering of Muslim victims of the Jat-Muslim riots in September but this claim had to be verified, the police alleged.
The two Haryana imams arrested last month for their suspected links to Lashkar-e-Toiba, and another LeT operative on the run, had allegedly visited relief camps of victims of the Muzaffarnagar communal riots and sought to recruit men to their module.
It had also reported that some of the men allegedly approached by the suspected LeT operatives had refused to join hands with the terror group, informed the Special Cell of the Delhi Police and recorded detailed statements under Section 164 CrPC in the chamber of a city magistrate at the Patiala House court Monday.
Delhi Police Special Commissioner (Special Cell) S N Shrivastava told a press conference two residents of Muzaffarnagar had deposed in court but they were not riot victims. He did not respond when asked if there were others from the district who had also given their statements in court Monday.
Asked if the suspected Lashkar operatives had tried to lure Muzaffarnagar residents to avenge the violence against Muslims during the riots, Shrivastava said: "This is not totally untrue. This is one side of the story. This is their claim. We will have to verify this. Before that, I do not want to make any comments."
But he refused to respond when asked if Lashkar was trying to radicalise Muslim youths in the riot-hit areas of Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts.
Explaining the sequence of the alleged events, Shrivastava said that last month, a tip-off from Central agencies had led them to arrest two Imams - Hafeez Rashidi and Shahid - from Mewat in Haryana.
"The two persons we arrested were members of a banned organization. Based on their interrogation, we checked their background and found out that they were in touch with some persons from Muzaffarnagar region. There was another person with them, whose name I do not want to disclose at the moment," he said.
The imams and these men allegedly met at the Thana Bhawan railway station in Shamli, where they spent the night and returned to Mewat via Palwal.
Shrivastava claimed that Shahid, Rashidi and their associate got in touch with Muzaffarnagar residents Liaquat and Zamir. Liaquat and Zamir had two meetings with the alleged Lashkar operatives.
Police claimed that Zamir was asked to do a few kidnappings for ransom and the extorted money was to be used for building a mosque. "Zamir was not comfortable with the idea and thus backed out. We have now got their statements recorded," Shrivastava said.
Police said Liaquat is from Charthawal and is a teacher with the Uttar Pradesh education department. Zamir is a small-time criminal from Jallalabad in Muzaffarnagar.
While police did not give details of the number of trips the suspected Lashkar operatives made to Muzaffarnagar, sources said they had gone there four or five times and tried to recruit many men.
In Muzaffarnagar, as news spread Tuesday that suspected Lashkar operatives had tried to radicalise riot victims and recruit them, people living in the riot-hit villages and camps of victims said they were apprehensive about their future and feared they would be detained by the police.
The district police, however, said it was completely in the dark about the alleged incidents or the Delhi Police looking for other suspected Lashkar operatives who could still be active in the district. "This is something we know nothing about. Delhi Police has not formally communicated with us," said H N Singh, SSP of Muzaffarnagar.
However, the topic had crept into most conversations in the relief camps.
"There are enough people here calling us terrorists. Now with the Delhi Police making such claims, the day police start picking us up isn't very far," said Rasheed Ahmed, a resident of the Loi relief camp. "We are uprooted, without a place to call home. First Rahul Gandhi made such claims and now others are. I am worried about my young son, who's still in his twenties," he said.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi had at a rally in Indore in October claimed that an intelligence officer had told him that Pakistan's ISI was trying to recruit disgruntled youths affected by the Muzaffarnagar riots, a comment which drew widespread criticism.
Some refused to believe the Delhi Police's claims and said this was an attempt to malign the community.
"We have been persecuted here, driven out of our homes. These lies are now being spread to make us even more unwanted," said Mohammad Chand, who lived in Shahpur before the riots and now works in a sweet shop in Budhana.
In Lisadh - a Jat-dominated village - at least 200 Muslims had fled their homes during the riots. Charred houses and empty roads in sections of the village serve as reminders to the violence here.
But for many Jats, the Delhi Police's claims sound incredulous. "The violence was unfortunate and it should have been avoided. But to say that my neighbors are terrorists is hard to believe. Nine out of 10 people in this village want them to come back," said Ajit Choudhury, the pradhan of Lisadh.
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