Lucknow encounter: Slain man called 'traitor' by dad, police say no IS links

Saifullah and his five associates are self radicalised 'A traitor cannot be my son, straight and simple': father of Saifullah

"After opening the doors of the house (where the terrorist was holed up), the force went inside and found the suspect dead along with weapons," Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Daljit Chaudhary said. "At one point of time it appeared that more than one person was holed up inside the house," he said.

Chaudhary said that the operation "stands closed now".  The IG ATS Aseem Arun  had then confirmed that the slain terror suspect was an active member of the ISIS. However, later on police revealed that the slain man had no IS links and was a self-radicalised man. He was trying to spread the reach of the IS Khurasan module in the city. "Saifullah and his five associates are self radicalised. They did not get financial support from outside (foreign country). They generated it from their own property. They were trying to build an IS Khorasan module here and planning for terror attacks at several places," Additional Director General (Law and Order) Daljit Chaudhary said.


Anti-terror operations were carried out to get hold of terrorists, suspected to be linked with the Bhopal-Ujjain train blast near Jabdi station in Shajapur district of Madhya Pradesh on March 7, in which at least 10 people were injured, three of them seriously .

Speaking to the media after the anti-terror operation was over, Arun said, "Efforts were made to catch the suspected terrorist (identified as Saifullah) alive, but unfortunately this did not materialise. We fired tear gas shells and chilly bombs, so that he comes out. But, he did not come out."

The ATS commandos then stormed inside the house (after issuing a warning to the terrorist), Arun said, adding "The suspected terrorist then fired at the ATS commandos, which was then appropriately retaliated by the ATS commandos. After this, two rooms were thoroughly searched and checked, and the person identified as Saifullah was found dead."

"One pistol, revolver, knife and ammunition have been recovered," he said. The commandos also saw a wire wrapped around the stomach of the terror suspect, Arun said. "We suspect that it could possibly be an explosive. Hence, the Bomb Disposal Squad has been called to clear the room first. After this the investigations would commence," he said.

On earlier reports of two terrorists being holed up in the house, the IG ATS, said, "Since we were using the tube cameras to ascertain the details (of the suspected terrorists), the image was not very clear, and it appeared that there may be two terrorists holed up in the house. But, when the search and clear operations were carried out, only one dead body was found."

Asked to comment on the possible terror linkage of the slain terrorist, Arun said that this would be answered during the course of investigation.

Meanwhile, the father of Saifullah has refused to accept his son's body saying he could not do so.  A traitor cannot be my son, straight and simple," said Sartaj about Saifullah, a suspected ISIS terrorist who was killed in an encounter with the Uttar Pradesh police. Feeling ashamed of his son's activities, Sartaj refused to take Saifullah's body, saying, "A traitor cannot be related to me, let alone be my son."

"We are Indian citizens. I was born here, my ancestors were born here," he said, adding, "Almost everyone in the family is sad. But it is more shame than sadness for what he has done." Meanwhile, the father of two other men, who have been arrested on terror-related charges, has claimed that they were innocent and has sought a fair probe.