Abdul Kader Rahim was busy with his work at a garage at Chalakkudi when he heard that his name was being splashed on television screens as a terror suspect.
He said that his first instinct was to end his life then and there. He was interrogated for two days on a suspicion that he had helped out two Lakshar-e-Taiba terrorists, who had landed in Tamil Nadu via Sri Lanka.
Rahim and a woman who accompanied him were taken into custody from the Ernakulam district court premises last Saturday. Rahim's lawyer had told the media present here that his ID proof had been misused by someone and that he was being framed.
Released on Monday evening, Rahim was told that all cases against him were dropped. Rahim told Onmanorama that he hardly had any friends at his home state thanks to his expatriate life that started at the age of 19.
He returned to Kerala last year hoping to start from scratch. However, he was forced to seek employment abroad once again after his plans failed to take off. He returned on August 22. Rahim said that he panicked after a friend called him up to tell him about the news linking him to a terror plot.
Sane counsel prevailed, and he went straight to surrender before a court. Had he been arrested anywhere else, his ordeal could have been worse, he feels. Rahim said that he was implicated in the case with a photo that was taken at the Bahrain airport 20 years ago. Once the police were convinced that the photo that was produced by their informants as proof was actually downloaded from a Bahrain government website, they began to lend a patient ear to Rahim. The photo in question could not have been accessed without submitting personal data such as Aadhaar number. Rahim said that the people who tried to frame him had an axe to grind.
The flashback involves a sex racket that was busted in Bahrain sometime ago. A woman who was rescued from the racket was also taken into custody along with Rahim. The sex racket that was centred in a hotel in Bahrain run by a few Malayalis has busted thanks to the intervention of Rahim. Rahim's enemies probably wanted to make sure that he never returned to Bahrain. The hotel was put under lock and key after the flesh trade was revealed.
As many as 18 associated outlets were frozen. Rahim said he had told about the case in detail to the police in Kerala. The police have examined all documents related to the case in Bahrain. The police have also got in touch with the Indian embassy in Bahrain, which had helped Rahim unravel the racket. Rahim was at the receiving end of cruel revenge. Being portrayed as a criminal was the worst plight possible, he said. The choice of his opponents to use an old photo to implicate him helped him in a way. The police had a tough time matching the old photo with Rahim when he surrendered before the court.
His look had changed so much since the photo was taken. He showed the police on his mobile phone how the photo might have been compromised from the official site. He was interrogated by separate agencies for two days.
They mainly wanted to find out if he had made a call to Coimbatore as some of the reports claimed.
Rahim knew no one in Coimbatore. He said that his interrogators were gentle towards him and he could convince them of his innocence. He said that he was yet to come out of the shock but relieved to have proven his innocence.
A high security alert had been issued in Coimbatore and neighbouring areas in wake of intelligence inputs on infiltration of LeT terrorists into Tamil Nadu. Security checks and anti-sabotage checks were conducted in major churches by commando force personnel, and a three-tier security was in place at the Coimbatore international airport following this. Alert was also sounded in the neighbouring state of Karnataka.
