Abu Jindal's mother says he is innocent

Beed (Maharashtra), June 28 (IANS) Claiming that her son, Abu Jindal Hamza, is not a terrorist, his mother Rehana Begum Thursday accused the security agencies of "falsely implicating" him.

Speaking to media persons at Jindal's hometown Beed in Maharashtra, Rehana Begum said no DNA test of herself and her husband has been done in the past five years and that the government should first match their DNA test results with Jindal to confirm his identity.

"No DNA was conducted. My son is being implicated. He is not a terrorist. My son is a religious person, he can't do anything like this," she said.

Jindal grew up in Maharashtra's Beed district before he went to Pakistan for terror training.

Rehana Begum said that she or her family are unaware of any cases lodged against Jindal or his involvement in terrorist activities.

"We want a proper investigation to be done," she said when asked if she was aware why he went missing following the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul in which AK-47 rifles and explosives were seized.

Jindal, 30, was arrested at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi June 21 after his deportation from Saudi Arabia. Jindal, who has at least 10 aliases, was one of six people who were holed up in a "control room" in Karachi and directed the audacious Mumbai attack by 10 Pakistani terrorists in November 2008. The carnage left 166 people dead.

Jindal was one of those who were heard on radio intercepts directing the terrorists to their targets in Mumbai and telling them who to kill. He had trained the killers to speak Hindi.

Jindal, an alleged member of the Indian Mujahideen group, was arrested soon after he landed at the IGIA in New Delhi from Saudi Arabia. A court sent him to 15 days' police custody.