Click to play videoNew Delhi: Accused of being a suspected Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) agent, Tariq Ahmad Dar, an Indian national staying in Dhaka, spent a month in police custody in Bangladesh. After deportation, Tariq is back in jail in India.
"I am innocent. I was tortured there for being a RAW agent, I'm being tortured here for being a terrorist," claims Tariq as he pleads innocence on his way to the Tihar Jail.
Educated in Delhi, Tariq spent the last two years successfully running a handicrafts business in Bangladesh. He is also a known face in print commercials of leading brands and is somewhat of a star in Dhaka's advertising circuit.
Tariq's father Ghazi Ghulam Nabi Dar said: "Tariq is not involved with any such agencies. He is very sober mind. He is innocent. He is not involved in any such activities. He is so busy, how can he be involved in any such activities. He has his own business and his family to look after."
"We have appealed to Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and to Prime Minister for proper investigation in this case. I am a social worker who has fought against many injustice and I am waiting for my turn to get justice,” he added.
In less than two months, from being a face that dominated hoardings and commercials in Bangladesh, Tariq was accused of human trafficking, spying for India and a terror conduit across two nations.
Tariq was arrested on September 16, 2006, in Dhaka on a complaint of forged travel documents. Later he was deported on the charges of being an Indian spy.
He landed in Delhi only to be arrested again, this time by the special cell of Delhi Police for his alleged Lashkar links.
"His right to life and liberty has been denied. His detention in Bangladesh was completely illegal," says Tariq's lawyer Naushad Ahmed Khan.
With a suspect in the New Delhi blasts of 2005 with the same name — Tariq Dar — there is also a mistaken identity theory floating around. "You can investigate my credentials, we are not those kind of people," says Tariq.
While Amnesty International, the Indian External Affairs Ministry and many top Indian ministers intervened to get Tariq back to India, he is being held here on suspicion of being a threat to the state.
"We are open to any investigation. He was a successful model and this is simply business rivalry," says Tariq's brother, Imtiyaz Ahmed Dar.
The Delhi Police say that they have very strong reasons for the arrest. "We don't pick up people just like that. We arrest people based on specific inputs from intelligence agencies and technical analysis. There is no question of victimisation," says Alok Kumar, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Special Cell, Delhi.
Between what Delhi Police say and what Tariq himself claims, there is a grey area. So who is Tariq Ahmad Dar? Is he the Indian RAW agent as claimed by the Bangladeshi government or is he the Lashkar-e-Toiba militant who funnels money into the Valley? Or is he simply the man who launched many products in Bangladesh but does not have any identity today?
(With Urvashi Sibal in New Delhi)
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