LUCKNOW: The father of Murtaza Abbasi, who’s accused of attacking provincial armed constabulary jawans at Gorakhnath temple, told interrogators on Saturday that his son had a medical history of mental illness and was undergoing psychiatric treatment. Murtaza is plagued by a mental disorder since birth and would often climb atop trees or rooftops and threaten to kill himself, father Munir Abbasi told anti-terrorism squad (ATS) personnel in Lucknow.
Murtaza, an alumnus of IIT-Bombay, hails from a wealthy and illustrious family of Gorakhpur, said ATS sources. While father Munir is financial and legal advisor to a chain of MNC firms, his grandfather, Nazir Ahmad Abbasi, was a collector and his great grandfather Syed Ahmad Abbasi was a district judge.
Also, Murtaza’s brother is a doctor and owns a reputed clinic in Gorakhpur.
In 2017, Murtaza lost his job with top oil company after he climbed atop a tower and said he would come down only when “Allah appears”, Munir told ATS.
Recently, Murtaza was planning to visit Canada for a job interview and was collecting money from friends to fund the trip, said sources. His medical reports were being collected for analysis by experts.
Despite putting up an alibi of mental illness, Munir failed to give a satisfactory reply when confronted with his son’s videos containing inflammatory speeches, proof of his visits to Nepal and money transactions to Gulf countries.
Additional director general of police, Prashant Kumar, said investigations are continuing, but the larger conspiracy angle has been worked out by ATS.
Earlier, Murtaza told interrogators that he wanted to pursue coding and app designing to send encrypted messages to individuals to pursue jihad and justice for minorities.
