Bengaluru police denies any evidence against Maulana Syed Anzar Shah ? but Delhi ATS arrest him

Bengaluru: Delhi Police special cell arrested Maulana Syed Anzar Shah, the 51-year-old cleric on Wednesday from Bengaluru.

Shah was picked up for alleged ‘terror links’ and ‘hate speeches’. But Bengaluru police have admitted that they do not have any evidence against him. He was not named in the case as investigators did not have sufficient evidence against him.

The Police Commissioner N.S. Megharik said. The city police was eyeing on him for past several months.
“He was under watch for his hate speeches but the police were not aware of his terror links. We do not even have any evidence that he was involved in terrorism.”

He also justified the decision of Delhi police to arrest him based on the evidence gathered by Delhi police.

The officer said. “The police had even met members of the mosque committee and sought details about him. But before the dossier was submitted, the Delhi Police picked him up since they had concrete evidence about his terror links.”

Khasmi, hails from Shivajinagar in Bengaluru, and studied in Deoband in Uttar Pradesh. He served as imam and khatib in various mosques and teaches in a Madrassa.

He has two sons and a daughter. One son is married and the other is studying in a madrasa. He himself was inspired by al Qaeda founder chief Osama bin Laden,

He used to deliver hate speeches during the Jummah Sermons and Bayaans (Friday sermons).Nayaz Pasha, the head of Makkah Masjid in Banashankari, where Khasmi was a preacher, warned khasmi to deliver sermons based only on the Qur’an and not to target other religions.

He frequently visited the states of Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chennai, Karnataka, Kolkata, Lucknow, Jharkhand and other parts of the country to deliver provocative speeches.