Lucknow: The family of arrested doctor Shaheen Sayeed, accused of links to a terror module allegedly connected with the recent Delhi blast, has expressed disbelief over the charges, saying they are still struggling to accept that she could have been involved in any unlawful activity.
Shaheen’s elder brother, Mohammad Shoaib, and her former husband, Dr Zafar Hayat, both described her as a devoted mother and a peaceful individual who never showed any extremist tendencies.
Speaking to PTI Videos in Lucknow two days after the blast near Delhi’s Red Fort, which killed 12 people and injured around 20, Shoaib said police and the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) had visited their home but behaved respectfully during their inquiries.
“They searched the house and asked questions normally, the same way you are asking me now. Neither my father nor I were treated harshly,” Shoaib said, adding that the officers only asked when his sister had last visited them.
He revealed that he had not been in touch with Shaheen for the past four years. “We have had no contact. It’s been four years since we last spoke,” he said, though he added that his parents occasionally checked on her. “Parents will naturally call their children to ask how they are doing. I am her elder brother; of course, I would also worry about her. Isn’t that normal?”
Shoaib also denied ever visiting her residence near IIM Road in Lucknow. “No, I have never gone there. I only knew she had a house somewhere along that road. I don’t even know the exact location,” he said.
Dismissing any notion that she had been involved in extremist activity, Shoaib said, “Even when she was studying medicine, there was never any sign of her being involved in anything suspicious. I still don’t believe these allegations.”
Meanwhile, the Crime Branch of Kanpur Police questioned Shaheen’s former husband, Dr Zafar Hayat, who said he learned about her arrest only on Tuesday evening.
Hayat, an ophthalmologist, said he and Shaheen were married in November 2003 and divorced in 2012. “There was never any dispute or quarrel between us. She was a loving and caring person,” he told PTI Videos.
He said Shaheen was a dedicated mother who cared deeply for her children and their education. “I never had any inkling that she could be involved in such activities,” Hayat said.
Recalling their marriage, he mentioned that Shaheen “never wore a burqa” except during the wedding rituals. “I had never seen her in a burqa. I have no idea about her alleged involvement in any terror activities now being reported,” he said, adding that he only recently learned she was still in India.
Hayat also recalled that Shaheen once discussed moving abroad. “She suggested we settle in Australia or Europe for a better life, but I told her we already had good jobs and family here,” he said.
Kanpur Police Commissioner Raghubir Lal confirmed that Dr Hayat was questioned following intelligence inputs linking Shaheen to the Delhi blast probe. “Our team interrogated Dr Hayat extensively, but so far, no information has emerged that warrants any legal action,” Lal said.
He added that the Crime Branch and local police also visited Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Memorial (GSVM) Medical College, where Shaheen once worked, to collect her records and speak with staff. “No breakthrough has been achieved yet,” he said, while dismissing rumours of detentions or arrests in Kanpur as “baseless and misleading.”
Investigations are ongoing in coordination with central agencies probing the Red Fort blast, officials said.
According to investigators, Dr Shaheen Sayeed, associated with Al Falah University in Faridabad, was arrested for her alleged role in a “white-collar terror module” linked to Jaish-e-Mohammed and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind. She is suspected to have been connected with Dr Muzammil Ganaie, another faculty member at the same university, and allegedly headed Jaish’s women’s recruitment wing, Jamaat-ul-Mominat, in India.
Her father, Syed Ahmad Ansari, also expressed shock over her arrest, telling reporters that the family could not believe she would ever be involved in such activities.
With PTI inputs