Patna, Oct. 30: The JD(U) today presented Indian Mujahideen operative Tahseen Akhtar’s uncle Taqui Akhtar before the media, claiming that he was not aware of his nephew’s activities.

“Taqui is associated with our party for many years. He is a dedicated worker of the JD(U). Some people are trying to malign the name of the chief minister and our party by connecting Tahseen Akhtar, an accused in the recent serial blasts in Patna,” said water resources minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary, in the presence of the JD(U) state unit president, Bashishtha Narayan Singh, and Taqui.

Taqui is the general secretary of the JD(U)’s Samastipur district unit. His nephew, Tahseen, is considered to be the mastermind of the Patna serial blasts. He is absconding.

After the recent blasts, the BJP accused the Nitish-led state government of going soft on terrorism.

Reacting to reports that a JD (U) leader was related to one of the accused in Patna serial blasts, the water resources minister said: “Taqui has six brothers. Tahseen is the son of his elder brother Wasim Akhtar and has not contacted the family for nearly two years. In fact, his family members were not aware of his terrorist activities. They learnt about it on December 19, 2011, when police visited their house in search of a terrorist.”

Choudhary, the water resources minister, also the minister in charge of Samastipur district, said: “We tried to locate him (Tahseen) but could not. Finally, in January 2012, the family members informed the cops that he was missing.”

He said Tahseen visited his family for the last time in November 2010 to celebrate Id. His family members were always co-operative with the police, he added.

“Some people are trying to link Taqui and his nephew forcibly. So, we intentionally called Taqui today in front of the media,” he said.