india

Updated: Aug 31, 2014 17:24 IST

Police on Sunday recovered as many as 36 mobile SIM cards and 15 handsets from an apartment of ‘love jihad’ accused Ranjit Singh Kohli besides two airguns during a morning raid in the state capital.

Kohli – alias Raqibul Hassan – was arrested by police earlier this week for allegedly torturing his national gold medal shooter wife Tara Shahdeo to convert to Islam after their marriage on July 7.

Ranchi senior superintendent of police (SSP) Prabhat Kumar, who conducted the raid along with superintendent of police (SP) Anup Birtharey, confirmed the recovery.

The recovery also included one vehicle beacon used by VIPs, 2 computer CPUs, four printers, one projector and at least 50 empty cases of mobile handsets.

Sources said police was trying to ascertain the reason for one person using so many SIM cards and in whose name the connections were availed.

The raid was made at Kohli’s house in Blair Apartments located on MG Road. Police had earlier sealed the apartment along with two other houses of Kohli. His fleet of cars was also seized by police.

“We also recovered a CD containing video footage of Kohli and Tara’s wedding ceremony as their court marriage documents,” Kumar said.

Kohli, 37, and his 83-year-old mother Kausal Rani were arrested from Delhi and brought to Ranchi. On Friday, Kohli was remanded in police custody for three days for questioning on his possible links with terror outfits.

A ring-wing NGO Akhand Bharat has moved the Jharkhand High Court demanding a probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into Kohli’s alleged terror links.

The saffron brigade has termed the case another instance of ‘love jihad’, an alleged tactic used by Muslim youth to convert Hindu girls to Islam by luring them into marriage.

Kohli has, however, denied his wife’s charges and also defended his collection of mobile phones.

TV channels quoted him as saying that he was a tech-savvy person and the recovered things didn’t directly prove his links with any form of ‘jihad’.

He said that his wife was taking undue advantage of the media and the police to harass him and demean his dignity in public.

A delegation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by national vice-president Raghubar Das on Sunday met Tara in Ranchi and promised justice to her.