Cuttack: A district court in Cuttack on Tuesday acquitted Abdur Rehman in a case related to alleged links with Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), citing lack of sufficient evidence to prove the charges against him.
The District and Sessions Judge Court delivered the verdict nearly 11 years after Rehman was arrested in 2015 by a joint team of the Bhubaneswar–Cuttack Commissionerate Police and the Special Cell of the Delhi Police from the Jagatpur area of Cuttack on December 16, 2015.
Rehman, a resident of Paschimakachha in Cuttack district, was accused of having alleged links with AQIS, an affiliate of the global terror network Al-Qaeda. Police had claimed that he was involved in recruiting cadres for the outfit and radicalising youths for terror-related activities.
Investigators had also alleged that Rehman was running a madrasa in the Tangi area on the outskirts of Cuttack, where children from economically weaker families of neighbouring Jharkhand were kept in allegedly poor living conditions.
The probe further claimed that Rehman was in contact with Mohammad Kafeel, who was killed during a failed attempt to attack Glasgow Airport in 2007. Officials had also alleged that Rehman had travelled to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates twice in 2015 and had made multiple visits to Jammu and Kashmir.
However, during the trial, the prosecution failed to establish the allegations with adequate evidence. The court, after examining the records and submissions, acquitted Rehman of all charges, holding that the case was not proven beyond reasonable doubt.
