Kamil’s father Mohammad Yasin, a painter by profession, says the police took his son away in his absence without giving any reason. “I was not here when they took him away. I am just too shocked and I don’t know what to do. I went to meet him in police lock up until Sunday and now he is not there. If the police today says they did not pick up my son, I don’t even know where to find him and who to blame,” he said.

Said Mukhtar Ahmad, a teacher at the mosque’s seminary: “Iliyas Bhai is someone I know for the last eight years. He taught me at this seminary before I could begin teaching and he always spoke about being patriotic towards our country. He even organized Independence Day celebrations at the mosque with great zeal.”

As an example, Ahmad points out to the thick congregation of children swelling around him who study at the seminary. “They are all taught here for free. And, this is so peaceful a place that you can only find a wooden stick here to drive away dogs,” he adds.

Ahmad adds that contrary to police’s claims that Iliyas was a Bangladeshi national, his family — mother and sister — stayed at his native village in Mewat in Haryana. “There is no water in the neighbouring Idgaah colony. All the children who come from the colony carry water to their homes from here after Iliyas put a tap connection outside the mosque,” he says.

... contd.