Patna : Family members of a suspected Indian Mujahideen operative Qateel Mohammed Jaffer Siddiqui, who was found murdered inside his cell in Pune s Yerawada Central Jail, have demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the death.

Qateel Siddiqui, a native of Bihar s Barh Samaila village in Darbhanga district, about 200 km from here, was Friday found strangled with a thin rope inside his cell in the high-security jail in Pune. Family members and villagers are shocked and angry over Qateel s murder, as half a dozen youth hailing from the village were arrested for suspected terror links till date.

An accused in the Jama Masjid shootout case of 2010, Qateel was arrested by Delhi Police in November 2011 and was in transit remand in Pune. He was arrested for making an attempt to plant a bomb at the Shrimant Dagdusheth Halwai Ganapati temple in Pune on the day of the German Bakery blast Feb 13, 2010.

Qateel Siddiqui s father Zafeer Ahmad Siddiqui blamed the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Mumbai Police s Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) for the murder and has demanded a CBI probe into the death. "The IB and the ATS are behind my son s murder in jail, we demand a CBI probe into it," he told IANS over phone. He claims that his son was innocent and that if he was accused in the blasts, it was for the court to decide the punishment for him.

"It is part of a big game to eliminate him to save the skin of concerned government agency, who falsely arrested him," Siddiqui said.

Siddiqui said he has requested the Darbhanga district magistrate and senior superintendent of police Garima Mallik to send the body of his son to Barh Samaila village, as they were unable to meet the expenses of travelling to Pune.