Jamshedpur, Dec. 18: Cuttack-based cleric Abdur Rahman, who was arrested three days ago by a joint police team of Delhi and Odisha for his suspected links with al Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), an affiliate of the dreaded terror outfit with an international profile, has Jamshedpur links which Jharkhand and Odisha police are now investigating.

Now in Delhi on police remand, Rahman (37) had come to the steel city in 2005 to fix the marriage of one of his cousins based in Jamshedpur

The groom was Md Kafeel Ahmed, a Bangalore-based techie, who went on to attain worldwide posthumous notoriety in July 2007 for being a part of a failed terror operation to blow up Glasgow International Airport in Scotland.

The focus is now on Kafeel's young widow.

Jharkhand and Odisha police are investigating if Rahman had been carrying out subversive activities in the cities of Jharkhand, including Jamshedpur, and if the widowed cousin or any of her family members, an extension of the cleric's family, also had AQIS links.

"Rahman had been to Jamshedpur in the past for getting one of his cousin sisters, a resident of the steel city, get married to Md Kafeel. Now, we want to know if any of Rahman's relatives in Jamshedpur had links with the AQIS," said ADG (operations) S.N. Pradhan, who also happens to be the spokesperson of Jharkhand police.

He added that after Kafeel's marriage with Rahman's cousin, he had gone back to Bangalore and then was fatally burnt two years later in an attempt to blow up Glasgow International Airport.

"Now, we are trying to determine if his widow came back to Jamshedpur. Police and intelligence network are also trying to find out whether Kafeel's widow had any link with the AQIS," the ADG said.

Pradhan declined to name Kafeel's widow or her whereabouts, claiming it would hamper the investigation.

Rahman used to run a madarsa in Tangi locality of Cuttack, where most of his 85 students were from Jharkhand. The cleric had also visited a number of cities in Jharkhand and delivered objectionable speeches in the recent past. "We have been following Rahman's activitiesmuch before Delhi and Odisha police laid their hands on him," Pradhan added.

East Singhbhum SSP Anoop T. Mathew was tight-lipped. "We are in touch with Odisha police and are collaborating with them on this case," was all he revealed.

Rahman is suspected to have links with terror modules in countries, including Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Pakistan and the UK.