Lax Tenant Norms Making Hyderabad Terror Haven?

Until National Investigation Agency (NIA) sleuths swooped down on a house in Balapur and nabbed Myanmar national Khalid Mohammed, neither Cyberabad police nor the state intelligence agencies had any clue that a suspect associated with the Burdwan blast was staying at a rented accommodation on the outskirts of the city.

After the twin blasts at Dilsukhnagar in February 2013, Cyberabad police had carried out a door-todoor search to gather information about suspicious elements. Subsequently, they came up with a `tenant verification' idea, prepared a format and posted it on its website. The format is supposed to be filled up by house-owners with all relevant details of the tenants.


Cyberabad police even issued 10 guidelines for landlords, including the need for sharing details of tenants with the local police. They also advised house-owners to verify antecedents of people coming from areas notorious for terror or criminal activities.

Property owners are supposed to maintain a separate register by collecting the identification proof, address of previous residence, etc.

However, the ground reality is quite different as none of the norms is being observed both by houseowners and police. Curiously, the mechanism has been put in force only in Cyberabad and not Hyderabad commissionerate limits.

The non-implementation of tenant verification became apparent when police started carrying out cordon and search operations in places where hundreds of wanted criminals were taking shelter with out disclosing their antecedents.

Cyberabad police commissiont er CV Anand said that the tenant verification initiative has temporarily been kept in abeyance as a proposal was mooted to make a common system across the state.

“In the past, the verification exercise was done aggressively, but we need to intensify it again. Nearly a fortnight ago, we distributed pamphlets by visiting each and every house in our jurisdiction to explain about precautions to be taken while carrying out the tenant verification exercise,'' LB Nagar DCP C Ravi Verma said.

The Intelligence Bureau issued an alert of a likely terror strike by the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). The alert said that they were conspiring for terror strikes in connivance with Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). The city's suburbs continue to be on the edge due to poor vigil.