Panaji, March 21

In a significant disclosure, Goa Police have said 45-year-old chartered accountant Samir Sardana, a former army officer’s son who was arrested by the state anti-terrorism squad (ATS), is allegedly linked to the 2008 terror incidents in India.According to documents tabled during the recently concluded monsoon session of the Goa legislative assembly, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, quoting a summary of the police investigation, has said that Sardana, son of a retired Major General of the Indian Army, had as many as 35 e-mail IDs and of them only six have been examined by the investigating agencies so far.Parsekar’s written reply to a question raised by an opposition legislator, does not elaborate on the nature of the 2008 terror incidents. But Parsekar also categorically added that thus far “the suspected person could not be linked directly to any banned terror outfit beyond pre-operational level”.After his release on bail on February 11, Sardana had denied all the allegations and claimed he was harassed by the police because of his interest in Islam. “There was physical torture, racial taunts. They asked me: Why do you want to become a Muslim? What do you see in Islam? They used abusive language. They (police) said I have converted to Islam… No. I am a student of Islam, its meta-physics and such things,” he maintained.Police claim that Sardana has worked as a consultant for multi-national companies abroad. He was arrested by the ATS on February 1 from the Vasco railway station, 35 km from Panaji. — IANS