Canadian probed for terror links

Kamal Jain did not want to pay a 100 rupee (about C$2.50) traffic fine.

Kamal Jain did not want to pay a 100 rupee (about C$2.50) traffic fine..
\So he took off with the cop clinging to the bonnet of his car through the city of Pune.
It ended 15 minutes later with four people being injured and police opening fire on his vehicle.
Now the 65-year-old Canadian citizen, a former CEO of a telecom company, who reportedly earns two million rupees (about C$45,000) annually from his consultancy work, is cooling his heels in a police lock-up and facing a jail term.
As police try to determine if Jain was involved with a terror group or Indian gangs, they said the suspect has become tightlipped about his past in Canada.
He also doesn’t appear too keen on being sent back to Canada, police sources said, according to Indian media.
“It is not clear why Jain wants to continue living in India. The government had issued him a ‘leave India’ notice on July 3,” said a police officer from the Pune Police’s Special Branch. Senior Police Inspector Suhas Nadgauda, who is investigating the case, told MiDDAY, “Jain who was earlier cooperating with the investigations has stopped cooperating now. We have tried unsuccessfully to get him divulge the details about the 26 years he has stayed in Canada and the details about the firms he worked with.”
Jain is now in magisterial custody for 15 days as the case against him and his background is investigated. Indian officials did not say where in Canada Jain lived.
More than 50 witnesses have come forward to assist in the police investigations, while a couple, a three-wheel cab driver and a cop recover from their injuries. In an incident that appeared straight out of a Bollywood potboiler, Jain was exiting a sweetmeat shop in front of Pune’s Hotel Aurora Towers when he spotted a group of cops. Assistant sub-inspector (ASI) V V Jadhav said, “I was on duty and was passing by M G Road. I spotted a car parked opposite the entrance to Aurora Towers.
I went towards the car with a jammer and was putting it on the front wheel when a man emerged from a sweetmeat mart in the building
“He immediately sat in the driver’s seat and started driving even as I was trying to put the jammer on the wheel. I asked him to stop, but he took the car in reverse in high speed. Then he drove away.” Jadhav said he jumped on to the bonnet of the car but Jain did not stop.
“I managed to hold on to one of the wipers and the windscreen, as Jain pressed the accelerator. I shouted for my life, but he kept abusing me. He asked me to get away, but had I jumped down, I would have been crushed under the wheels,” Jadhav told MiDDAY.
Indian media quoting eye witnesses said Jain steered the car in a zigzag manner to shake the cop off the bonnet. He first took the car till Nehru Memorial Hall and took a swift U-turn and headed towards SGS Mall. From there he turned left and went to Blue Nile chowk.
On the way he hit two motorcycles, which left two people injured and a three-wheel cab. The commotion drew a horde of people with many following the car. Deputy Commissioner of Police, Ravindra Sengaonkar was passing by in his car when he spotted Jadhav on the speeding car.
“I followed the car, but he refused to stop, I fired rounds from a revolver but had to be very careful since he was driving at more than 80 km per hour and that too in a haphazard manner. He took a right turn from ISKCON temple chowk and headed towards Ambedkar chowk. We managed to overtake him near Ambedkar chowk and nabbed him. Jadhav, who received injuries on the head and the hand, was taken to a hospital for treatment. I had fired six rounds from the left window of my car to stop him ,” said Sengaonkar. Indian media said Jain was a resident of Nyati Highlands in Kondhwa, Pune.
He is a Canadian national living alone in the city for the past 10 years. He has an engineering degree from Germany. Jain runs a consultancy and his clients are big names in the software industry. Earlier, he was with a telecom company, the police said. During initial questioning, Jain, according to police, said he had tried to flee as he was scared.
Assistant public prosecutor Shilpa Mahatekar pressed for Jain’s custodial interrogation to ascertain the motive behind the incident.
The prosecutor said Jain was suspected of having links with a terrorist organization or gang, and so attacked the policeman.
Defence lawyers for Jain refuted the prosecution’s charge of having any association with a terrorist outfit or gang. According to police, Jain was given a Leave India’ notice by the government of India in June for violating his visa by working.