Gorakhnath temple attack: Navi Mumbai cops open parallel probe

Abbasi being taken to Lucknow by UP’s ATS, on Wednesday. Pic/ANI

Following the arrest of Ahmad Murtuza Abbasi, who had earlier lived in Navi Mumbai, in connection with the attack on cops at Gorakhnath temple in Uttar Pradesh, the Navi Mumbai police have launched a parallel probe to ascertain that there are no such threats from the people who are known to him, in their jurisdiction.

The NRI police that helped the UP cops collect details about the IIT-B graduate earlier this week have recorded the statement of one maulana, an Islamic priest, said sources. Abbasi used to meet him frequently during his stay at Seawoods till 2020. The Taj Height building in which Abbasi lived in Navi Mumbai also has a madrassa on the ground floor. Sources said Abbasi often visited the madrassa at Taj Height. The maulana is attached to the madrassa.

The maulana has told the police that Abbasi was very calm and wouldn't talk much to anyone. "From here they went to Jamnagar… his father met me in 2016-17 and told me that he felt that someone had cast a spell on his son as his behaviour had completely changed. His father said ‘he does not sleep at night and behaves strangely'," said the maulana in his statement.

Navi Mumbai cops apart, the Maharashtra ATS is also gathering information about Abbasi and the people associated with him to rule out any possible threat, said sources. His father Mohammed Munir told the media in UP that his son has been mentally disturbed since 2017 due to which his marriage also broke down that year. IITian Abbasi was arrested by the UP police last Sunday for allegedly attacking security personnel with a sickle at the Gorakhnath temple in Gorakhpur. The UP ATS has not yet ruled out the terror angle in the case.

2017
Time since when Abbasi has been disturbed, his father says