Date:20/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/20/stories/2008092055951300.htm

National

Gujarati youth in custody

Staff Reporter

PATHANAMTHITTA: A 28-year-old youth who claims to have reached Thiruvananthapurm from the ‘riot-torn Gujarat six years ago’ was taken into custody by the police from the Pathanamthitta bus station recently under suspicious circumstances.

Some Kerala State Road Transport Corporation staff informed the police about the abnormal behaviour of the youth, who reached the bus station around 11 p.m. on Wednesday.

The youth, who introduced himself as Mohammed Sulfiqer, told the police that he had been eking out a living by visiting mosques.

Sulfiqer said he lost his vision in a teargas shell burst during police action while he was functioning as Imam in a local mosque in Gujarat. His sister, brother-in-law and their children were killed in the communal violence six years ago, he added.

He told the police that the mobile phone he had was a gift from Shahnawas in Eerattupetta four days ago. However, the phone shows record of incoming and outgoing calls since September 12. There was no answer to calls made by the police to those numbers. The police were verifying the veracity of his statements.