The Uttar Pradesh ATS has claimed to have collected key evidence to prove that the arrested Azamgarh youth Saif-ur-Rehman Ansari is actually an Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative. The ATS also claimed to have proofs about Saif’s active role in the 2008 Jaipur blasts and in the Faizabad court blasts in November 2007.

Saif’s relatives had objected to his arrest by the Madhya Pradesh ATS in Bhopal on April 12, claiming that the police were mistaken about the youth’s identity. The Uttar Pradesh DGP had then asked the ATS and the Azamgarh police to verify the antecedents of the youth.

During the verification process, the ATS came across five Azamgarh youths with the same name of Saif-ur-Rehman. While two of them are students of Integral University in Lucknow, the third is studying at Delhi University. An extensive probe was conducted to verify the antecedents of all of them.

Besides documentary evidence, the ATS also claimed to have substantiated Saif’s voice in the telephonic conversations with his parents and brother between October 2008 and January 2009 after his name was revealed as one of the IM members. The ATS had put his father’s mobile phone on surveillance and had recorded Saif’s conversation with his mother in which he allegedly confessed about his role in the blasts.

The family’s plea is that the warrant sought from the Jaipur court to arrest Saif carries the name as Saif-ur-Rehman Alvi of 18, Badarka, City Kotwali, Azamgarh district. Saif’s brother Jia-ur-Rehman Ansari claims, “My brother’s name in his Class X and XII certificates is Saif-ur-Rehman Ansari and the address is 246, Badarka, City Kotwali area in Azamgarh.”

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