Will skip Class XII exams to fight for him,says son

He said Kazmi was returning home when he was stopped and taken away by police. The family looked for him everywhere but could not find him. Around 9.30 pm,there was a knock on the door and policemen in plain clothes showed up,the son said.

“The police came home and took away a laptop and a Scooty. They informed us late at night so that we could not arrange a lawyer at that late hour,” he said.

About the Scooty,he said: “An Iranian friend of my father came to the house 2-3 months ago and asked him if he could leave the Scooty outside the house. Since he was a friend,my father agreed. We had the Scooty papers,it was second-hand. The police have taken that as well.”

He plans to give the Class XII exams a miss. “My priority now is to clear the stain the police have given to my father’s name. I will not take the exams this year. We will fight till the police clear my father’s name from their concocted story.”

Kazmi’s elder son,studying for an MBA degree,said: “My father is a national hero and cannot be an accused in a case like this. He has been working as a journalist and has represented the country abroad for two decades. He wrote columns for reputed newspapers and was handpicked by the government to represent India.”

Kazmi’s wife has not left the compound of the dargah near her house ever since she learnt of the arrest. “My husband is innocent. He is a patriot. He has worked hard to achieve all that he has. He came from a poor family in Meerut. He became famous because of his hard work,” she said.

According to the family,even on Tuesday morning,Kazmi had appeared in a programme of the Doordarshan Urdu channel.

Kazmi is a Geography post-graduate from Delhi University. He went on to obtain a PG diploma in Persian language. He started his career working for the IRNA news agency of Iran.

He visited Iraq between 2002 and 2005 while working for the BBC and Doordarshan Urdu.