Police arrest Muslim employee of Guwahati University

Police in India's Assam state arrested a Muslim employee of Guwahati University for allegedly collaborating with terrorist groups even as a massive security alert was sounded in the state to foil terrorist attacks.

A police spokesperson said Abul Hussain, a clerk at the University accounts department, was under surveillance by central intelligence agencies for quite sometime on suspicion for his alleged links with terrorist and religious fundamentalist groups, including the Lashker-e-Taiba,
"Hussain was formally arrested over the weekend and
investigations are on in full swing", a senior Assam police official who did not wished to be identified said.

Police are looking into specific instances of the arrested clerk for possible links with groups like the Lashker-e-Taiba, Harkat-ul- Jehad-e-Islami, and Jamat-ul-Mujaheeden.

"His residence in Guwahati was used probably as a meeting point for members of some of these groups", the official said.

According to police reports, Hussain had recently met with leaders and members of some radical groups from Bangladesh during his trip to his ancestral home in southern Assam's Karimganj district.

Last week, Assam police arrested six persons, including a Muslim cleric, on charges of having links with religious fundamentalist groups.

The Assam government sounded a maximum alert following reports of fundamentalist groups planning to stage terror strikes in the state.

"Security forces were placed on a state of high alert with intelligence inputs indicating of some strikes by religious fundamentalist groups with terrorist links," Assam police
intelligence chief Khagen Sharma said.

Police, army, and paramilitary soldiers were deployed in strength to guard vital installations like railway stations, bus terminals and crowded marketplaces, besides oil and gas facilities.

"The main worry or fear is to protect the Guwahati railway station and other busy areas, including the state assembly complex," a city police official said.