Dr Muzammil Ahmad Ganai, arrested for his involvement in a “white-collar terror module” linked to the Red Fort car blast, seemed to have had little interaction with the residents of Haryana’s Dhauj village, where he had rented a house two months ago.
Multiple neighbours said they had never seen him at the house on Fatehpur Road, around 1km from Al Falah University, where he used to work.
“We haven’t seen him. I don’t know if Muzammil lives here,” one of his neighbours said.
Dhauj, a Muslim-majority village located 15km from Faridabad, has been thrown into the spotlight following the recovery of 360kg of explosives from Muzammil’s rented accommodation.
Muzammil and Dr Shaheen Sayeed — both connected to the university — were arrested for their alleged link to the terror module linked to Pakistan-based outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).
According to the villagers, Muzammil, a native of Koli in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama, had taken the house on rent in September.
“We had no idea he used to live here. We only found out later,” a woman said on the condition of anonymity.
Sources said Muzammil used the house to store his belongings.
The neighbours declined to comment on the November 10 raid on the house from where 360kg of ammonium nitrate was recovered.
“I had gone out of the village to attend a wedding on the day the police raided the house,” an elderly villager said, refusing to disclose his identity.
“Naam jaan kar kya karoge bhaiya. Samjha karo (What will you do by knowing the name? Please understand,” he said.
A villager said 85-year-old Haji Madrasi, from whom Muzammil had rented the house, was shocked by the raid and the subsequent developments and was under treatment for heart-related ailments.
Madrasi is a retired government employee and is well-respected in the village. His house was found locked when this reporter visited it.
Dhauj residents could not recall seeing Dr Umar Nabi in the village. Umar, an employee of Al Falah University, was driving the Hyundai i20 that exploded near the Red Fort on November 10, killing 13 people.
The villagers also denied having any interaction with Shaheen.
However, they said Muzammil sometimes came to the village to buy vegetables
and fruits.
“His interactions were limited to a quick dua salaam,” a villager said.
“Muzammil used to visit the village when he needed essentials and grocery items,” Dhauj sarpanch Mohd Sajid Hussain told The Telegraph.
Vegetable vendors and grocery store owners could not remember speaking
to Muzammil.
“Mera kaam saman bechna hai. Jo cheez manga jata hai, main woh de deta hun. (Our job is to sell goods. We give whatever is asked of us,” a vegetable seller said.
A villager, who didn’t want to be quoted, said the police were quizzing shopkeepers about Muzammil, asserting that the investigating agencies must not unnecessarily harass the shopkeepers.
Aware of the extent to which Dhauj’s reputation had been dented, cleric Maulana Mohammad Mohammad Qasim said the villagers’ trust had been broken and they would now be cautious before renting houses.
“People have decided to do a proper verification before renting a house to an outsider. We will examine every minute detail — be it a student or an office-goer. We have also decided to share a copy of the documents of tenants with the local police,” Qasim said.