Lucknow Encounter: Cop Dialled Terror Suspect's Brother, Slid Phone Under Door To Him

Lucknow: As hours were spent by the anti-terror squad in Uttar Pradesh to capture terror suspect Saifullah alive from a house on the outskirts of Lucknow, the police had him speak to his brother, who asked him to surrender. "I won't, I want martyrdom," Saifullah reportedly replied.

The phone call was made around 5.30 pm, two hours after the police and commandos surrounded the house in Haji Colony of Thakurganj. The police called Saifullah's Kanpur-based brother Khalid, briefed him and slid the mobile phone under a door of the house.

The police say they have a recording of the conversation that lasted only a few minutes. Khalid broke down and asked his brother to surrender, but he refused, saying he would rather die.

After that, the police turned to chilli bombs and smoke bombs to try and draw him out.
 "Efforts were made to catch the suspected terrorist alive, but unfortunately this did not materialise. We fired tear gas shells and chilli bombs, so that he comes out. But, he did not come out," said Aseem Arun, a senior officer of the anti-terror squad.

Saifullah's family has refused to take his body. His father Sartaj said, "We only got to know about Saifullah and his activities last evening. We refused his body because he never listened to us, he would go against our wishes, I used to to scold and beat him up too."

After the 12-hour operation, a huge cache of weapons, an ISIS flag and a train time-table were found near Saifullah's body.