Youth held with MMS clipping of riots, hate speech of cleric The Surat police on Saturday arrested a 20-year-old

youth from the Limbayat area and seized two cellphones, one of which contained MMS clippings of the 2002 post-Godhra riots and a hate speech of a Muslim cleric instigating people to support jihadi activities and fund the movement by way of donations.

Crime Branch officers accosted Shaikh Ajaz Sadik near his house in Limbayat in the evening on a tip-off and seized two cellphones, a driving license and his pan card.

Crime Branch Inspector J K Rao said: “On checking the cellphones, the Crime Branch personnel were shocked to see a 40-minute video clipping containing a speech of a Muslim cleric motivating the people to support jihadi activities. The clipping shows the footage of houses being burnt and the bodies of youths, women and children.”

He added: “The Muslim preacher appeals to the minority community to set aside their differences and unite.”

Rao said the cleric was speaking in Hindi and Urdu, which is not used in Gujarat. “The cleric is also shown requesting people to donate funds for jihadi activities,” he said.

Ajaz was arrested under IPC Section 153 A for promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, and handed over the investigations to the Surat Special Operation Group (SOG).

A copy of the clipping has been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory for test.

The police said Ajaz belongs to a lower middle class family and stays with his parents and brother in a small home. He is employed as a labourer with an embroidery unit at Udhna. Preliminary investigations have revealed that he was regular and loyal to his job at the unit.

He reportedly told the police during his questioning that he received the clippings from one of his friends a few days ago. Later, the police picked up four more youths from the Limbayat area in this connection and are questioning them.

SOG Inspector P R Desai said: “On the basis of the statements of Ajaz, we have picked up some of his friends. We wanted some lead from them on who is involved in the circulation of such clippings.”

The police have also seized their cellphones for further clue. “We have gone through the MMS clipping and found that it has been done to instigate innocent youths. We wanted to reach to the root of this and we are carrying out detailed investigations for the same,” Desai said