5 held in Hyderabad over suspected links with radical outfit in MP

The Madhya Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad in a joint operation with the Telangana police and Intelligence Bureau (IB) on Tuesday detained five people here over their alleged links with a radical outfit in the central state, official sources said.

The five people, suspected to be associated with the radical group, were picked up from different parts of the city in connection with a case registered by the Madhya Pradesh police, they said and added most of them had converted to Islam from Hinduism.

Among those who were detained includes, a native of Bhopal, who had shifted to Hyderabad around two years ago and is a teaching faculty at a pharmacy college here, while another person also from MP, had earlier worked with a software firm, the sources said.

The three others, who belong to Hyderabad, were working as auto-driver and daily wagers.

The person teaching at the pharmacy college, was in direct contact with those who were taken into custody by the Madhya Pradesh police's ATS, the sources said.

''He was self-radicalised and was trying to propagate that extreme ideology amongst some followers, though many of them went away even as three from the city continued to be his followers''.

''A case was registered by Madhya Pradesh police and it was a joint operation to help them in nabbing the five people. They were questioned (joint interrogation) and were being shifted to Madhya Pradesh,'' a senior Telangana Police official told PTI.

Incriminating material such as literature, air gun was seized from the five persons, the official added.