Bhubaneswar, Nov. 23: The special intelligence wing is keeping a close watch on a Cuttack-based cleric who has come under the scanner of Jharkhand police for making provocative speeches in Ranchi.

Sources in the intelligence wing said they had decided to keep a tab on the cleric, Abdul Rahman Katki, since they had been informed about his activities by their counterparts in Jharkhand.

"We traced him out and interrogated him. However, preliminary investigation did not reveal that he had any links with terror outfits. He was also asked not to visit Jharkhand," said a police official.

The police said that Katki, who runs a madrasa at Bilteruan village in Cuttack's Tangi, had made provocative speeches at a few places in Jharkhand that appeared to stir up differences between two sects of the Muslim community.

The Jharkhand police had approached their Odisha counterparts after the cleric addressed some community meetings. Later, he was not allowed to speak at another public meeting in a Muslim locality in Ranchi by the local residents. The cleric has been visiting Jharkhand for the past one year.

"We have also spoken to other people in the cleric's village. The cleric told us that he had never made provocative speeches in the area," said a police official.

Police and intelligence sources in Jharkhand claimed Katki, who is in his early 40s, harboured links with several radical outfits.

He has travelled widely across north Indian states, including Jammu and Kashmir, where he has addressed several meetings.

"Now he is eyeing east Indian states and Jharkhand seems to be his priority because of his frequently visits there in the last one-and-a-half years," said a police officer.

"We have come to know that he has created quite a following in Ranchi and parts of Jharkhand, especially in Lohardaga, where he arrived soon after sectarian clashes broke out in September and stayed on for a week," he said.

Senior police officers in Jharkhand admitted that the state had become a safe haven and a hunting ground for terrorist outfits.

While Indian Mujahideen had used Ranchi boys to ferry and possibly plant explosives at a Narendra Modi rally in Patna in October 2013, two persons were arrested from Sahebganj and Pakur for the October 2014 blasts at Burdwan in Bengal.

Train fire accused

Government Railway Police is planning to bring Ramachandran Subash, the accused in fire incident in three express trains at Puri railway station on November 12, on a 10-day remand for further investigation. Subash, who was earlier brought on a six-day remand, was sent to judicial custody after the remand period got over today.

"Despite several hours of interrogation, we are yet to find the motive of the crime. We have also not been able to ascertain whether Subash has links with any terror organisation," said a GRP official.

Subash was arrested on November 13. The police had seized a matchbox, some blades and a knife from him.