The Mysore police claimed to have nabbed two terrorists of Pakistani origin from the Al Badr group following a purported encounter on the outskirts of the city late on Thursday night. However, the owners of the house where they stayed said a police team had picked them up a fortnight ago. The police identified the arrested men as Fahad alias Mohammed Koya from Karachi and Mohammed Ali Hussain alias Jahangir. Investigations have revealed that both are Pakistan passport holders and arrived in India on a 45-day visa issued on November 30, 2005, the state DGP B S Sial said. Ali, allegedly a manager of financial transactions for Al Badr came to Mysore from Kashmir around four months ago, the Mysore police said. In the last eight months Fahad, an alleged recruiting agent for Al Badr, received Rs 12 lakh through banking channels, the state DGP said. Mysore Police Commissioner Praveen Sood said that “between midnight and 12:15 a.m., there was an exchange of fire between police team lead by DCP (law and order) and two alleged Pakistani militants. After the shootout, both the militants have been captured and interrogated.’’ However, the owners of the house where they stayed don’t buy the the Mysore police’s encounter story. The landlady of the Rajeev Nagar house, on the outskirts of Mysore, where the two alleged militants stayed since August 16 this year, Kanthamma Ravikumar, said: “The person called Mohammed Koya rented our house and signed the rent agreement. Some plain-clothed policemen took him away around 15days ago, along with the person we knew as Ali. We did not hear of them since then. Only on Friday morning when they were brought here that we realized they could have been terrorists.’’ Her teenage son Avinash said the house had been rented out to Koya after he was brought by an acquaintance of nearly five years, Khaderbhai, a shop owner in Mysore. “We were introduced only to Koya. There were four others including the person they used to call Ali at the house. They said they were running a mobile phone business. All our communication was through Khader bhai,’’ Avinash said. The Mysore police, however, stuck to their encounter story. Sood said: “We knew they were terrorists and were watching them. We were surprised when they opened fire.’’ “As far as I can recall from the passports, Fahad arrived in India some time in February this year. They did not go back,’’ Mysore DCP Balakrishna said. The Mysore police have claimed that the “terrorists” were planning to target the Central Institute of Language in Mysore and that they surveyed the government headquarters in Bangalore and sent details to “their headquarters through e-mail.’. Police sources in Bangalore said “the Intelligence Bureau had been keeping a watch on these people for over 15 days.’’ The sources said Koya and Ali were handed over to the Mysore police around four days ago. Three others who stayed at the Rajeev Nagar house are reported to be absconding along with Khaderbhai.
