Kafeel didn't show leadership qualities: Ex-employers

BANGALORE, July 10 (Agencies): Kafeel Ahmed, a suspect in the failed terror plot in Britain, showed no distinct leadership qualities and did not significantly stand out from the crowd during his tenure with Infotech Enterprises here.

"He worked with us from December 2005 to July 2006," K S Susindar, head of corporate communications for the firm, told PTI here today.

Kafeel was recruited as a design engineer by the outsourcing firm when he came in as candidate for a walk-in interview, he said.

The company recruited several people on a regular basis during walk-in-interviews, Susindar said.

Asked why Kafeel had left the firm, he said: "We do not have any clear idea why he left the firm.

Our records do not reveal any specific reasons.

"Nobody was aware of his plans about going to UK." Kafeel had very few friends he mingled with during his stint with the firm.

"Many of his friends have also left the company.

Nobody remembers him clearly because he did not mingle and he did not particularly stand out," he said.

"He was a very polite person," Susindar said, adding that no one around Kafeel was aware of any of his fundamentalist leanings.

Kafeel was assigned the job of working on aeronautic designs but Susindar refused to divulge the project he was working on.

"It is very confidential," he said.

Susindar said the firm's employees did not particularly remember Kafeel for any leadership qualities.

"Perhaps seven months might have been too short a time (to judge his qualities)," he said.

'Terror plot accused were indoctrinated into jehadi movt' BANGALORE, July 10 (Agencies): The three Bangaloreans who have been held in connection with the UK terror plot had been indoctrinated into the jehadi movement, Karnataka Home Minister M P Prakash said today.

"Kafeel Ahmed, his brother Dr Sabeel Ahmed and their cousin, Dr Mohammed Haneef are into Jehadi movement as they had been indoctrinated.

They (had) attended some meetings and delivered provocative speeches in the city", Prakash told the state assembly, referring to the findings of the probe into the backgound of the trio.

They had not committed any cognisable offence while they were in the city, he said responding to a query by Opposition Congress Leader N Dharam Singh and Vatal Nagaraj (Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha) who raised the issue during zero hour.

The city police who have stepped up probe to unravel the Bangalore link to the UK terror plot have already interrogated parents of the trio, their associates, friends nd others who had links with them, he said.

The police have not arrested anyone here in this connection, he added.

Prakash said that a hard disc seized from the residence of Kafeel has been sent for decoding to Thiruvananthapuram.

Kafeel, while handing over the disc to his mother Dr Zakia had asked her to ensure its safe custody saying it contained "project" details.

SC dismisses PIL for CBI probe against NBA NEW DELHI, July 10 (Agencies): After a year-long legal battle, Medha Patkar-led Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) today got a major relief with the Supreme Court dismissing a PIL seeking a CBI probe against it for allegedly indulging in illegal activities and receiving foreign funds.

"In our view, material in petition show vague allegations and without proper foundation," a bench comprising Justices C K Thakkar and Altamas Kasbir said holding that "no case is made out for CBI probe".

The court also imposed a cost of Rs 5,000 on Gujarat based NGO National Council of Civil Liberties (NCCL) which had filed the petition seeking probe into the activities of NBA and its support groups.

NCCL alleged that NBA was acting at the behest of foreign powers and creating political instability in India with the funds received from abroad.

The NBA had strongly opposed the PIL and had even questioned its maintainability contending that it was filed to settle a personal score.

Though Patkar and CBI were named as parties in the PIL, they were not issued notices.

The NBA had alleged that NCCL had suppressed some crucial facts and a personal battle was being fought by "misusing the judiciary" by filing a PIL.

The Centre had responded to the allegations levelled in the petition and had submitted that its role was limited to the extent of Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act.

In its affidavit, the Centre had mentioned about a complaint received in 2002 by the then minister looking after the Narmada project in Gujarat alleging receipt of funds by NBA but said an inspection of books of accounts did not reveal any instance of violation of FCRA.

Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat governments, which were party to the PIL, had supported the allegations of the NCCL.

While Madhya Pradesh had alleged that NBA activists were getting the support of foreigners in disrupting relief and rehabilitation work for the families affected by the Narmada project, Gujarat had sought a "high level" inquiry into the NGO's affairs contending that the protest against the project could not be conducted without access to substantial funds.

NBA had contended that NCCL has no locus standi to file the PIL and its President V K Saxena approached the apex court as he has a personal vendetta against Patkar.

NCCL has alleged that an NBA activist, Rahul Banerjee, was involved in several criminal cases and was even charged with sedition.

Banerjee had countered the allegation saying that the Madhya Pradesh High Court has dropped the charge of sedition against him but accepted that he had received funds from Mcarther Foundation.

He denied that he was associated with NBA saying he has no connection with Patkar's outfit.

NCCL had alleged that some of the NBA's support groups Arohi Niyas, Sarvodya Sikshan Samiti Malcha, Delhi Forum and Lok Samiti had received foreign funds in violation of FCRA.

'Secret data' found on hard disk of Kafeel's PC BANGALORE, July 10 (Agencies): Experts have succeeded in decoding "secret information" stored in the hard disk of a computer seized from the home here of Kafeel Ahmed, a suspect in the terror attack on Glasgow airport, official sources said today.

The Thiruvananthapuram-based Resource Centre for Cyber Forensics, which is under the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), will submit it report on the disk's contents to Bangalore Police, the sources told PTI.

City police launched an investigation a day after the botched terror plot in Britain was reported due to suspicions that Kafeel was linked to it.

Police seized a computer and CDs during a search of his residence in Banashankari here.

Kafeel, who is believed to have driven the burning jeep laden with crude bombs intoGlasgow airport, had stored "project" data in the hard disk and protected it with a secret code that is difficult to decipher, the sources said.

An expert in the Indian Institute of Science here could not decode the contents of the hard disk, which police believe has vital information on the terror plot allegedly hatched by Kafeel, an engineer.

Fearing that repeated attempts to decode the information might lead to its deletion, police sent the disk to the facility in Thiruvananthapuram.

The sources, however, refused to say whether the experts in Thiruvananthapuram had been able to retrieve all the data on the disk or if only part of the information had been culled from it.

The report from the Thiruvananthapuram centre is likely to be discussed at a high-level meeting called this afternoon by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on the "terror links" in Bangalore.

The meeting will be attended by Home Minister M P Prakash, top police officers and officials of the home and finance departments.

Kumaraswamy had preliminary discussions with state police chief K R Srinivasan, City Police Commissioner N Achut Rao, IGP (intelligence wing) Sharat Chandra and other officials.

Kafeel, before leaving for Britain on May five, had handed over the disk to his mother Zakia Ahmed, warning her that it contained some important information on his "project".

Kafeel also asked his mother to ensure the safety of the disk and not to let it slip into anyone's hands.

Zakia, taking the warning seriously, had handed the disk over to her daughter Sadia, a medical student.

Sadia, in turn, asked a friend to keep the disk.

When Kafeel called his home here on June 30, he told his mother that he was working on an important "project" and asked his family to pray for its success, investigators said.

They pointed out that the failed terror attacks in Britain occurred hours after Kafeel spoke to his family.

20 Maoists killed in Chhattisgarh gun battle RAIPUR, July 10 (Agencies): At least 20 Maoists were killed and nine security personnel were injured in a fierce gunbattle in a jungle in naxal-infested Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh, a senior police official said today.

Twenty-seven out of the 115-member team are still missing in the Elampatti- Regadgatta jungle, about 550 km from here, where the gunbattle erupted last evening after CRPF and Special Police Force launched an operation to flush out the ultras from there.

"The personnel who have returned from the jungle have told us that at least 20 naxals were killed in the operation which lasted for about five hours," the official linked with the anti-naxal operations told PTI.

DIG Vishwaranjan and a top official of CRPF said there were no casualty from the security personnel team.

Nine personnel were injured in the encounter, the official with the anti-naxal operation wing said, adding the condition of three were stated to be serious.

Both the security personnel and naxalites have used mortars and light machine guns during the gunbattle, he said.

Chattisgarh's Special Task Force and Andhra Police's 'Greyhound' assisted by Union Home Ministry's air wing have launched a search operation in the jungle bordering Andhra, a CRPF spokesman told.

"While 71 personnel came back in the night and 17 returned this morning in two batches, 27 are still missing," the official said.

Officials at the police headquarters here said some of the personnel, who had not returned back so far, had received bullet injuries on their legs.

The gunbattle prolonged for about five hours but high downpour created a major obstacle for the anti-naxal operation and during that period the naxals opened fire from behind, sources said.

Meanwhile, CRPF Director General S I S Ahmed and senior officials of the paramilitary force rushed to Dantewada to oversee the search operations underway there.

"The top officers were attending a two-day conference of Inspector Generals of the force here when the news about the encounter came," a CRPF spokesperson told PTI.

Ahmed is being accompanied by Inspector General (Operations) A P Maheshwari and IG (Northern Sector) O P Singh.

Among the missing was an Assistant Commandant of the CRPF, Vijay Kumar Titre, who was leading the police party, sources said.

41 policemen missing after encounter in Chhattisgarh RAIPUR, July 10 (Agencies): At least 41 security personnel, including 17 CRPF men, were missing and nine injured in a fierce gunbattle with naxals in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh.

"Twenty-two Special Police Force personnel, 17 CRPF men and two personnel of the district police are missing after the last night gunbattle with naxals in Elampatti-Regadgatta jungle, about 550 km from here," a top police official told PTI by phone from Dantewada today.

"115 personnel had gone for the joint anti-naxal operation in the area.

While 71 personnel came back in the night and three returned this morning, 41 are still missing," the official said.

Among the returned, nine are injured, officials said adding the condition of three of them is stated to be serious and have been shifted to a hospital in Jagdalpur, divisional headquarters of Bastar district.

Officials at the police headquarters here said some of the personnel, who had not returned back so far, had received bullet injuries on their legs.

Chattisgarh's Special Task Force and Andhra Police's 'Greyhound' assisted by Union Home Ministry's air wing have launched a search operation in the jungle bordering Andhra, a CRPF spokesman told PTI in New Delhi.

Among the missing was an Assistant Commandant of the CRPF, who was leading the police party, sources said.

"As radio communication is yet to be established, the condition of the missing force are not known," they said.

The gunbattle erupted after a 115-member strong security force launched the operation in the jungle and were fired upon by Maoists from LMG and mortar fire last evening.

The gunbattle prolonged for over three hours but high downpour created a major obstacle for the anti-naxal operation and during that period the naxals opened fire from behind, sources said.

Since then the radio communication was disconnected and the headquarters was not having any information about the forces, the CRPF sources said.

Forces from CRPF and Dantewada District Police have gone from all sides to the spot in the morning and they are waiting for information from them, the sources said.

Meanwhile, Dantewada District Superintendent of Police Rahul Sharma has also rushed with commandos for operation to trace the missing forces, police said.