New Delhi : In a daring attack, NIA Deputy Superintendent of Police Mohammed Tanzil, 45, and his wife Farzana were shot at from close range by two unidentified gunmen on a motorcycle who stopped their car near Sahaspur town of Bijnor district. The injured couple was rushed to a hospital in Moradabad where the officer was declared dead on arrival. His wife has been shifted to a hospital in Noida and her condition is said to be serious. The couple’s two teenaged children — a son and a daughter — watched from the rear seat as their parents were attacked. They were however not hurt. “The officer had asked his children to duck before the shots were fired,” a senior official told NDTV.
Tanzil’s brother, Raghib Ahmed, told a TV channel that the officer was shot at 21 times and his wife sustained four bullet injuries. “He had no enmity against anyone. He was a friendly, cheerful person,” Ahmed said.
Tanzil, an officer of the Border Security Force, was on deputation to the NIA since its inception and had the reputation of being an honest and sincere officer. “He was an excellent officer who had investigated many terror cases. He was also not the sort of a person who would have personal enmities,” an NIA officer said. Police officials said they are probing all possibilities, including terror links to the attack.
Tanzil was investigating the 2007 SIMI arms training camp matter and cases against suspected ISIS sympathizers and the Indian Mujahideen. Speaking about the attack, Daljit Chowdhry, an Additional Director General of the UP Police, said: “Nothing can be ruled out. A very serious offence has taken place in the district and we have taken it very seriously. The body has been sent for post-mortem and details of what actually happened will soon come out.”
This is not the first time that an officer of the NIA has been attacked. Earlier, while probing the Burdwan blast in Kolkata, an NIA team led by IG Sanjeev Singh came under a crude bomb attack. The team survived without any injuries. Notably, Bijnor has witnessed activities associated with the IM and SIMI, including a bomb-blast in 2014 in which alleged SIMI members who had broken out from Khandwa jail are suspects.
Terming the incident a “planned attack”, NIA IG Sanjeev Singh said, “One of our officers, a very brave officer Mohammad Tanzil Ahmad, had gone to his home to attend a function on Saturday night. When he was returning from the function, a planned attack took place on him and he was fired upon. He was killed in the firing while his wife was injured. She has been admitted to Fortis Hospital, Noida. He was an assistant commandant with the BSF and was on deputation with the NIA.”
According to the UP police, Tanzil left his home in the evening along with his family to attend a marriage ceremony at a guest house at Sohara village. On their way back, their vehicle was stopped barely 300 metres from his home by two youths who fired at a very close range.
