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The West Bengal CID had not only provided wrong information to the UP Special Task Force, but also kept him in illegal detention for over 48 hours, he alleged. It was only after his relatives lodged a missing complaint that the CID produced him before the court — two days after he was picked up.
On December 27, the 28-year-old was picked up by the West Bengal CID for his suspected involvement in the UP serial blasts. But he was released after it was found that the arrest was a "mistake".
He arrived at his Cossipore residence at 8.30 this morning. The trauma lingers. The torture unleashed by the West Bengal CID will haunt him for years to come.
Aftab claims that though the Uttar Pradesh STF did not spare him the physical torture, they were definitely more considerate than their West Bengal counterparts. "At least, the officers were sympathetic and had asked their subordinates to wait till my involvement was reconfirmed. But the Bengal CID did not spare me and tried all means to make me succumb and confess to the crimes I never committed. I never thought I would come out alive," said Aftab.
His watch -- a wedding gift -- cellphone and the Rs 500 cash he was carrying had been confiscated by the CID and has never been returned.
For his family, it was a humiliating episode. "They had fixed up his sister marriage for March but now all plans have gone haywire," said neighbours. Aftab's mother had to spend six nights on the footpaths of Lucknow trying to secure the release of his son. "They can do anything because we are poor and helpless," said his mother.
Rajiv Kumar, the additonal IG, CID, told The Indian Express that it was the Special Task Force from UP which had arrested Ansari. "They had provided us with wrong information. We had sent two photos of Ansari and the STF had confirmed that Aftab Ansari was Mukhtar Ansari was the same person. The mistake was, however, unintended," he added. On December 27, Aftab had gone missing after he had left home for Shyambazar. Minutes later, he was nabbed by the CID, pushed into a car and rushed to a five-storied building near the airport.
The nightmare had just begun. The enforcement agencies inflicted physical torture to extract a confession. Slaps, blows from and lashes from his own belt -- they stopped at nothing. "They tried to force me to confess that my name is Mukhtar alias Raju, a terrorist operating from Bangladesh." On December 29, Aftab was produced in court after two days of illegal detention and after days, was finally released.
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