New Delhi: Did the Bangalore police actually give a dossier on Mohammad Haneef to the Australian authorities, suggesting that the Indian doctor had al-Qaeda links?
Australian TV channel SBS claimed on Wednesday night that the Australian authorities had received an Indian police dossier accusing Haneef of having links with al-Qaeda.
The dossier, said to be made by Bangalore police, allegedly suggests that Haneef "must have come into contact with members of terrorist entities and assisted." One entry in the file, which is marked 'restricted', said "Organisational set up: alleged links with al-Qaeda", the TV channel said.
On its part, the Bangalore police reacted quickly to the reports, denying any link to the said dossier. "The reports are blatantly false and misleading. We have not sent any such dossier," a senior Bangalore police official said.
Denying that they had sent to Australian authorities any dossier on Dr Mohammed Haneef that linked him to al-Qaeda, a Bangalore police official said: "We cannot send any report to any foreign agency unless it is routed through the proper channel."
Another Bangalore police official told PTI that the Australian authorities had not even sought any information from the state police on this issue. Asked whether the probe by police here had thrown up evidence of links between Haneef and any militant outfit, he said, "So far we have not been able to establish any such links."
Referring to the ongoing probe into the activities of Haneef's cousin Kafeel Ahmed and his brother Sabeel, currently under arrest in Britain on charges of being in the know of the failed terror plot in UK, the official said, "We will continue to quiz people when required."
The document cited by the TV station does not provide any evidence and it is not clear whether police were just outlining suspicions to be further investigated.
Haneef's lawyer Peter Russo, too, responded with scepticism. "My understanding is that it was just a vague reference in a document, it doesn't say how or what supports it," he said on Wednesday night.
Russo said the information was not put to Haneef during interviews with Australian Federal Police. "No, my understanding or my memory is that he wasn't directly asked," he said. "I know he was questioned about his education, where he went to school and what type of school he went to, etc."
The Commissioner of Australian Federal Police, Mick Keelty, said the alleged links were new information to him. "We don't have anything that positively says that in Australia but of course it is an avenue of inquiry and if that is what the Indians are saying it needs to be followed through," he told ABC radio.
The dossier also said Australian police found a bank locker key on Haneef, which did not belong to him, according to ABC report. Keelty said the AFP were probing a 'money trail' in the ongoing probe into claims Haneef had links to al-Qaeda.
"Some of those avenues of inquiry I can confirm relate to financial transactions, but as I keep saying this is very much an ongoing investigation, it's a live investigation, and we need to let the investigation take its course." Asked if investigators were following a "money trail", Keelty said: "We are."
Keelty said Australian authorities had no evidence that Haneef was linked to al-Qaeda, but the allegations need to be followed up.
Australian Health Minister Tony Abbott said there is no reason to believe Australian authorities knew about the Indian police file. "I honestly don't know if anyone else in our security apparatus might have been aware of it, but certainly it's the kind of thing the AFP will be talking to their Indian counterparts about," Abbott was quoted by a media channel.
(With agency inputs)
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