Karnataka police interrogating Pak national

Police in Kozhikode continued to question Mohammad Fahad, one of the two suspected Al-Badr terrorists arrested by the Karnataka police from Mysore in October 2006, in connection with a fake Indian passport secured by him earlier and several other cases, a top police official said on Friday.

"We have taken Fahad into police custody till January 23 and the interrogation will continue to ascertain his involvement in the cases," City Police Commissioner, Balram Kumar Upadhyay told PTI in Kozhikode.

Refusing to disclose what the Karachi-born Fahad told the police during questioning, Upadhyay said, "We cannot disclose all that he says during interrogation, but we will definitely come out with details as soon as we get a break."

He denied reports that appeared in a section of the press that Fahad had admitted to securing the fake passport during police interrogation in Kozhikode on Thursday night.

The case against Fahad is that he had procured an Indian passport with the help of his friends and relatives in Kozhikode.

Seven persons, including postman of Kavannur post office, an ASI and a head constable were arrested for aiding Fahad in the matter.

Fahad was arrested by the Karnataka police on October 28, 2006 for reportedly plotting to attack the Vikasa Soudha in Bangalore and the Central Institute of Indian Languages in Mysore.

Soon after arresting Fahad, the Karnataka police had alerted their counterparts in Kozhikode about his suspected Kerala links and the police established that he had close links with his friends and relatives.

Fahad's father, Abdulla, who was living in Kozhikode, had migrated to Karachi in the early 1970s but Abdulla's first wife continued to reside at Kappad. Fahad had reportedly visited the residence during February and March 2006.

The police are also probing the connections of Fahad with fundamentalist groups and Hawala dealings in the state.

Following the arrest of Fahad in Mysore, police raided the Kappad house and also seized some documents and a computer.

Officials of the state police, including Intelligence Bureau and Crime Branch, would question Fahad in the next couple of days, Upadhyay said.

Fahad was brought to Kozhikode on Thursday from Mysore after the city police had requested for interrogating him for his alleged involvement in several cases.

After he was remanded to police custody till January 23 by the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court at Kunnamangalam, Fahad was taken to the Police Club, where he is being interrogated since Thursday night.