Four Ayodhya plotters handed over to UP Police

Four suspected conspirators of the Ayodhya attack, including two Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists, were on Friday handed over to an Uttar Pradesh team for investigations.

Asif Iqbal alias Farooq, Naseem Ahmed, Shakeel Ahmed and Mohmmad Aziz of Mendhar tehsil in Poonch district were handed over to the 10-member UP police team by their J&K counterparts after they were produced in a local court, officials said.

Farooq and Naseem were taken to Srinagar on Wednesday to identify some hideouts from where the five terrorists, who made the abortive July 5 bid to storm the makeshift Ram temple complex at Ayodhya, collected assault rifles, ammunition and explosive material, they said.

UP police would be interrogating the suspects about the route taken by the five terrorists to get to Ayodhya, sources said.

Security personnel have arrested four more Ayodhya conspiracy suspects - Akbar Hussain, Mohammad Naseer, Lal Mohmmad and Mohmmad Rafeeq - during raids in Mendhar since Wednesday.

After preliminary questioning, they were brought to the Joint Interrogation Centre at Jammu.