Abdul Wahid Sheikh, who was acquitted of charges related to the 2006 Mumbai train bomb blasts, has reported ongoing harassment from the Mumbai Police, despite being cleared of all accusations. Sheikh expressed his frustration over repeated visits from police officers, stating that their actions have caused significant distress to him and his family.
According to Hindustan times, On Wednesday, when the plain clothed NIA team accompanied by local police reached his door at 5am, he refused to open the door demanding that they first show him a proper search warrant and furnish the details of the FIR, if any, against him which they did not have on them.
After hours of back and forth between the NIA team outside Shaikh’s house and the senior officers in Lucknow, a search warrant was procured and Shaikh let the NIA team inside his house at 11.15am, 6 hours after they had first knocked.
He also released a video statement pointing out the errors in the way the NIA team was trying to enter his home and alleged that somebody had tampered with the CCTV camera located diagonally across the door of his house. The search operation, he said, should be videotaped.
Shaikh, a school teacher at Anjuman-e-Islam school in Maulana Shaukat Ali Road, had been jailed for nine years in the 7/11 serial train blasts in Mumbai in 2006. In 2015, a special court acquitted him, pronouncing him innocent.
Since then, Shaikh has been trying to rebuild his life and reputation. He wrote a book, Begunah Qaidi which is now being published in English; a film on his life called Hemolymph released last year, and in the nine years of jail he studied law and fought his own case. He now uses his legal knowledge to help his co-accused in the blasts case as also for protecting rights of prisoners.
The NIA’s countrywide operation on Wednesday is linked to a case recorded by the Phulwari Sharif police station in Patna, Bihar, on July 12, 2022, which was subsequently taken over by the NIA Delhi unit for investigation on July 22 last year.
“The core allegation of the Patna case centers around the gathering of individuals with suspicious intent in the Phulwarisharif area. On July 11 last year, at around 7.30 pm, a raid was executed by the officers of Phulwari Sharif police station, based on confidential information,” the NIA officer told HT.
The search at the rented residence of a certain Athar Parvez in Bihar led to the alleged discovery of important material closely associated with PFI. Hindustan Times reported. As reported by Muslim mirror, Sheikh said , “They not only harassed my wife by asking stupid questions but also called me and repeated the same questions.”
In response to this “ongoing harassment”, Sheikh has sent a letter to the Mumbai Police Commissioner requesting an end to these unwarranted visits and questioning. He described the officers as members of the crime branch and mentioned that they identified themselves as Sub-Inspector Arun Sawant.
Sheikh’s wife was left bewildered by the police’s sudden visit and the questions posed, which Sheikh claims are irrelevant since he has no active cases against him. He said that, despite being acquitted, the police’s actions are instilling fear in their neighborhood, making it feel unsafe.
