16 held for 'links' with radical outfit HUT; MP police say it wanted to topple India's democratic system

The Madhya Pradesh police's Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Tuesday arrested 11 persons from two cities in the state, while five others were nabbed from Hyderabad for their suspected links with the Hizb-Ut-Tahrir (HUT), a radical outfit, an MP police spokesman said.

With these arrests, police authorities claimed to have busted a module of the fundamentalist organisation.

The MP ATS arrested 11 persons, including a gym trainer, software engineer and teacher, and booked them under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and other relevant provisions of the IPC, an official said.


Of these, 10 were arrested from Bhopal's Shahjahanabad, Aishbagh, Lalghati and Pipalani areas, while one was nabbed from Chhindwara city, he said.

Following a tip-off from the ATS, the Telangana police arrested five persons from Hyderabad for their alleged links with the outfit, he said.

The official said anti-national documents, electronic equipment and radical literature were recovered from the arrested members of HUT, whose network is spread in more than 50 countries. The outfit has already been banned in 16 countries, he said.

The MP police spokesman claimed the organisation was aiming to topple the democratic system in India and replace it with Sharia (Islamic law regime).

The outfit was working to create its cadres in Madhya Pradesh and instigate them for violence, he alleged.

The spokesman said those arrested included a gym trainer, teacher, auto driver, tailor, computer technician, businessman and software engineer, and claimed they used to organise secret combat training camps in forest areas.

They received training from skilled trainers from Hyderabad, he said. Besides, they used to deliver provocative speeches at religious meetings and distribute religious literature to rope in more youths, said the spokesman.

The spokesman said they avoided regular channels of communication and used dark webs for conversation.

He said these HUT members had identified big cities of India to commit violent incidents in crowded areas to create panic.

Last year, several people were arrested from Bhopal for their alleged links with the banned group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), and jihadi literature and electronic devices seized from them.