Sartaj Ahmad

KANPUR: A day after he refused to accept the body of his son Saifullah , a terror accused killed in an Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) operation in Lucknow on Wednesday, Sartaj Ahmad demanded a judicial inquiry into the encounter.

Sartaj told TOI on Thursday he had disowned his son's body on the basis of media reports and information provided by ATS sleuths . "But I want to know what exactly happened and how," Sartaj said, adding that he did not want to jump to conclusion and that he only wanted to know the truth.

The demand came after activists of Rihai Manch, a platform fighting for innocents implicated in criminal cases, met Saifullah's family. "I have been demanding an inquiry into the entire incident in my conversation with the media including the news channels, but no one has reported it," Sartaj said, adding that he was curious to know how his son, who left his house barely two and a half months ago, got radicalised to the extent that he got involved into such a mess.

Sartaj said he was working at a tannery on the outskirts of Kanpur when armed sleuths barged in identifying themselves as ATS members. "They told me that Saifullah had locked himself inside a room and was firing at the police .... the information left me numb," he said. Thereafter, he reached home and switched on the television only to find news channels airing visuals of the live encounter.

"Thereafter, journalists and crews from news channels started arriving at my house. They told me that my son had been involved in an act of terror and was involved in a gun battle with the police. I believed them and disowned by son's body after he was killed in the encounter," Sartaj said.

