Bhubaneswar, May 26: A district court in Cuttack on Tuesday acquitted Abdur Rehman in a case related to alleged links with Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), citing lack of sufficient evidence to substantiate the charges against him.

The verdict was delivered by the District and Sessions Judge Court nearly 11 years after Rehman was arrested in December 2015 by a joint team of the Bhubaneswar–Cuttack Commissionerate Police and the Special Cell of Delhi Police from the Jagatpur area of Cuttack.

Rehman, a resident of Paschimakachha village in Cuttack district, had been accused of maintaining links with AQIS, an affiliate of the global terror outfit Al-Qaeda. Investigating agencies had alleged that he was involved in recruiting youths and radicalising them for terror-related activities.

Police had also claimed that Rehman was operating a madrasa in the Tangi area on the outskirts of Cuttack, where children from economically weaker families from neighbouring Jharkhand were allegedly kept in poor conditions.

The investigation further alleged that Rehman had links with Mohammad Kafeel, who was killed during the failed Glasgow Airport attack in 2007. Officials also claimed that he had travelled to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in 2015 and had made several visits to Jammu and Kashmir.

However, during the course of the trial, the prosecution failed to establish the allegations with adequate evidence. After examining the records and submissions, the court acquitted Rehman of all charges, observing that the case had not been proven beyond reasonable doubt.

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