Terror suspect Mohammed Niaz, hailing from Melur in Madurai district, who was arrested earlier this month in Paris for his alleged links with the extre-mist group in Iran — ‘Jundallah’ (Soldiers of God) — is a relative of a former senior intelligence officer of Tamil Nadu cadre, Mohammed Qasim.
The officer retired in 1994 as Deputy Inspector General of Police (Intelligence).
Mr Qasim had lost touch with his extended family years ago. “I last saw Niaz as a young boy and had not kept in touch with him ever since,” he said.
Another senior intelligence officer said, “Niaz is an alumnus of the prestigious National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirapalli, where he did his PG between 2001-03. Prior to that, he studied at Moha-mmed Sathak Engineering College, Kilakarai”.
Niaz’s arrest for alleged terrorist links has shocked the intelligence agencies and the TN police as he was not known to be involved in any illegal activity in Karnataka.
“There’s nothing against him in the country, which is why the French government has not sought any informationabout him from us. He is allegedly linked with Jundallah, which has no presence in India. Probably, he deliberately maintained a clean profile here to stay clear of police attention. Niaz was a bright student and hails from a good family. He last visited his mother, Fathima, at his hometown Melur in Madurai district in January,” said the officer.
Interestingly, Niaz belongs to the same region as Imam Ali — an alleged member of the banned outfit Al Umma, who was gun-ned down along with his four aides in Bengaluru in a police encounter in Sanjay-nagar in September 2002 for his alleged role in the 1993 bomb blast at the RSS office in Chennai.
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