Suspected Hindutva Terrorist ideologue escaped from the clutches of Law

Suspected Hindutva Terrorist

Mumbai, Aug. 24: An Indian who had gone to the US to lecture on Islam at a Hindu Mahasabha conference (Hindu Congress of America http://hmsamerica.org/) has been detained in Houston for possessing “jihadi literature”.

Malad resident Vijay Kumar was apparently sweating and fidgeting in queue at the Bush Intercontinental Airport on Friday so authorities thought he needed a second look. “He raised the suspicion of behavior for detection officers. That’s what we have come to know from our FBI contacts,” said a Mumbai police officer, who has worked with the FBI for the 26/11 investigation.

Mumbai anti-terrorist squad team visited Kumar’s Malad residence. “ we now know that he was not attending any Islamic conference as stated in the complaint filed by US airport officials. He was in Houston to attend a conference of the Hindu Mahasabha where he had planned to speak on Islam and jihad. The Hindu Mahasabha has confirmed this to us,” said a Mumbai police source.

Unfortunately Anti-terror squad chief Rakesh Maria denied “official” intimation about Kumar’s arrest. “I am categorically stating that we have not been officially intimated about his arrest,” he said.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Himanshu Roy also said no information on Kumar has been forwarded to the Mumbai police. An ATS officer said, “We don’t even have his passport details.”

At the Houston airport, when the security found what they said was “tonnes” of jihadi literature on Kumar, along with a pair of brass knuckles and literature on US military, his luggage was tested for presence of explosives. The first test came positive, but a second and third read negative, said the Mumbai police source. By then, Kumar was in detention on suspicion of being a terror suspect.

Airport security checked if he figured in the watch list for terrorists. He did not. They then booked him for carrying a lot of undeclared cash — in this case $8000, around Rs 3.7 lakh. But a Houston court dismissed the charge yesterday.

Kumar is still in a jail for carrying a prohibited weapon — the brass knuckles.

He is said to be a filmmaker from Mumbai and a "peaceful man" by his lawyer Roger Jain..

Kumar was arrested after the discovery of literature and material found suspicious by the airport security staff. He was also apparently behaving suspiciously. Jain said he was not sure why he was carrying "islamic" material but he believed Kumar was going to speak to at Hindu Mahasabha conference and educate them on jihad and Islamic fundamentalism.
The Mahasabha promoted the principles of Hindutva, a Hindu nationalist ideology developed by its pre-eminent leader Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.the Mahasabha identified India as "Hindu Rashtra" (Hindu Nation). That is against Indian Constitution and secular polity.
Vijay Kumar, spent the weekend in custody after the arrest as a court posted a bail amount of $50,000 for his release. That amount was scaled down to $5000 on Monday.

"Vijay's supporters paid up that amount," lawyer Roger Jain, representing Kumar, told Hindustan Times over phone
Finally He was set free.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videoshow/6427861.cms