Police probing leak of Taslima’s Aurangabad visit details

Aurangabad (Maharashtra), July 31 (IANS) While controversial Bangladesh-born author Taslima Nasreen on Monday wondered how the itinerary of her visit to the city was leaked, official sources said police were probing the security breach.

Nasreen, now a Swedish citizen, was virtually packed off from the airport here around 8 p.m. on Saturday after huge protests outside as well as near the Taj Hotel where she planned to stay during her three-day sojourn.

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) legislator Imtiyaz Jaleel led one of the protests. The party activists waving placards and banners shouted slogans, demanding that she goes back, even as police rushed to the protest spots.

"People didn't want her to enter Aurangabad. I realised that if she came, there will be violence. So, she was sent back," Jaleel tweeted on Sunday.

An obviously peeved Nasreen made her displeasure known on Monday. "Nobody, but the police in Aurangabad, was informed about my itinerary and hotel booking. I wonder how fanatics got to know everything?"

"I had a dream to visit Ellora and Ajanta Caves. Can't believe it was not possible in the largest democracy in the world," she tweeted.

As a controversy erupted, top police officials declined to speak despite several attempts by IANS.

Nevertheless, official sources confirmed that police are probing how the travel plan of an international celebrity were leaked, giving rise to a potential law and order issue.

The sources revealed that after her flight from New Delhi landed on July 29, top officials met her and explained to her the "sensitive situation outside the airport and the hotel".

The sources said protesters had very specific information in advance on all confidential details, including her flight's arrival timing and her hotel stay, besides her plans to go around various tourist hotspots in and around the world-renowned tourism city.

The author, who is accorded tight security globally, was granted the option to step out and continue with her trip or return, and she reluctantly opted to take the next flight to Mumbai. Her current whereabouts are not clear, the sources told IANS.

The visit cancellation triggered a volley of reactions on the social media, which she countered by saying: "Can any of them tell what I wrote about the Prophet? They can't because they haven't read my books. They only use me for their political interests."

"I'm NOT an enemy, I'm a true friend of Muslims. Only friends and well-wishers want you to be educated and enlightened and your religion to be reformed."