02-25-2008, 08:19 AM
<b>Techie fights kidnap stain</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->New Delhi, Feb. 23: A former Intel engineer accused of kidnapping a woman doctor for extortion linked to âfundamentalist activityâ has moved Delhi High Court to quash the charge.
<b>Bangalore-based Shaji Yusuf, 31, denied helping his friend, former IBM engineer Mohammed Yaseen, lure Dr Madhumita Mishra of Delhi to their hometown and abduct her.</b>
Main accused Yaseen, 32, had befriended Mishra over the social networking site Facebook at a time her marriage was under strain, according to the first information report filed by the doctorâs husband in Delhi.
A few months ago, the duo induced her to move to Bangalore,<b> forced her to convert to Islam and held her captive in a madarsa</b>, Subijay Sinhaâs FIR says.
Yaseen was arrested in Bangalore and brought to Delhi. When Yusuf arrived in the capital to look for him, he was arrested, too. Both are out on bail but have lost their jobs.
During the bail hearing at a Delhi court, the public prosecutor had alleged that <b>Yaseen had got Mishra to convert by promising her a plush job in West Asia.</b> He had also allegedly contacted Mishraâs sister Rachna and asked for a Rs 10-lakh ransom.
Yusuf said he had come to Delhi to be at Yaseenâs side after learning that his friend was being detained for 15 days and would face trial for a crime he had not committed.
His plea for quashing of the charges (only against him) cites Mishraâs police statement after the cops brought her back from the Bangalore madarsa, alleged to have terror links.
The prosecution said Mishra had indeed been confined against her will and her mobile had been taken away. But the doctor said she had been staying in the madarsa of her own will.
Yusufâs petition says Mishraâs statement does not even mention him â it names only Yaseen.
âAlthough the petitioner has no role in the alleged crime and the same has also been admitted by Mishra⦠he is made guilty of the alleged offence and has been labelled a co-conspirator,â the petition said.
While granting him bail, the court had asked Yusuf to surrender his passport and told him he needed police permission to go abroad.
<b>Yusufâs petition says he graduated in electrical engineering from TKM Engineering College at Kollam, in his home state of Kerala, and had worked with Intel till December 2007.</b>
<b>Coincidentally, another electrical engineer from Kerala, who too had worked with leading IT companies in Bangalore, was arrested on terror charges on February 22. The police said Yahya Khan, 33, who had worked for Tata Infotech and General Electric, was part of a militant sleeper cell of âeducatedâ young men</b>
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->New Delhi, Feb. 23: A former Intel engineer accused of kidnapping a woman doctor for extortion linked to âfundamentalist activityâ has moved Delhi High Court to quash the charge.
<b>Bangalore-based Shaji Yusuf, 31, denied helping his friend, former IBM engineer Mohammed Yaseen, lure Dr Madhumita Mishra of Delhi to their hometown and abduct her.</b>
Main accused Yaseen, 32, had befriended Mishra over the social networking site Facebook at a time her marriage was under strain, according to the first information report filed by the doctorâs husband in Delhi.
A few months ago, the duo induced her to move to Bangalore,<b> forced her to convert to Islam and held her captive in a madarsa</b>, Subijay Sinhaâs FIR says.
Yaseen was arrested in Bangalore and brought to Delhi. When Yusuf arrived in the capital to look for him, he was arrested, too. Both are out on bail but have lost their jobs.
During the bail hearing at a Delhi court, the public prosecutor had alleged that <b>Yaseen had got Mishra to convert by promising her a plush job in West Asia.</b> He had also allegedly contacted Mishraâs sister Rachna and asked for a Rs 10-lakh ransom.
Yusuf said he had come to Delhi to be at Yaseenâs side after learning that his friend was being detained for 15 days and would face trial for a crime he had not committed.
His plea for quashing of the charges (only against him) cites Mishraâs police statement after the cops brought her back from the Bangalore madarsa, alleged to have terror links.
The prosecution said Mishra had indeed been confined against her will and her mobile had been taken away. But the doctor said she had been staying in the madarsa of her own will.
Yusufâs petition says Mishraâs statement does not even mention him â it names only Yaseen.
âAlthough the petitioner has no role in the alleged crime and the same has also been admitted by Mishra⦠he is made guilty of the alleged offence and has been labelled a co-conspirator,â the petition said.
While granting him bail, the court had asked Yusuf to surrender his passport and told him he needed police permission to go abroad.
<b>Yusufâs petition says he graduated in electrical engineering from TKM Engineering College at Kollam, in his home state of Kerala, and had worked with Intel till December 2007.</b>
<b>Coincidentally, another electrical engineer from Kerala, who too had worked with leading IT companies in Bangalore, was arrested on terror charges on February 22. The police said Yahya Khan, 33, who had worked for Tata Infotech and General Electric, was part of a militant sleeper cell of âeducatedâ young men</b>
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