Patna:Â A cycle repair shop owner and a mason in Bihar Thursday said they were wrongly branded terror suspects by the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) without any evidence. A police inquiry too found they had no terror links.
Jameel Akhtar and Majid Sai claimed innocence and threatened to commit suicide if a high-level probe is not ordered into the episode.
“It is a matter of honour, respect and dignity. We are poor people and have nothing to do with terrorists,” Jameel said.
The SSB said in a report last month to Bihar Police that the two were suspected agents of the Indian Mujahideen and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
“The SSB’s charges have hurt us badly. We will commit suicide along with our family members if the state government does not order a probe into it. We have the right to know why the SSB branded us terror suspects,” Jameel said.
Both men are residents of Motihari in East Champaran district and have come to Patna to meet Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to seek his help.
Additional Director General of Police Ravinder Kumar said it was found that Jameel, in his mid-40s, runs a cycle repair shop and Majid works as a mason in Motihari.
“A police inquiry found that the two have no terror connections,” he said.
Jameel said they were “terrified by TV news” that called them terror suspects.
They approached police Feb 8, but police officer Anand Kumar told them there was no case against them.
After the SSB report was leaked to the media, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party in the state said Minority Welfare and Information Technology Minister Shahid Ali Khan had links with the two, and demanded his resignation.
However, police gave a clean chit to Khan, and Nitish Kumar said his cabinet minister had no links with any terror suspect.
Nitish Kumar also said Jameel and Majid’s connection with the ISI and Indian Mujahideen could not be established.