Family of Indian doctor detained in Australia says he is innocent

The family of an Indian doctor detained in Australia in connection with failed terror plots in Britain insisted Wednesday that he is innocent and that he was heading to India to see his newborn daughter when he was arrested.

Australian authorities say they detained Muhammad Haneef, 27, late Monday at the Melbourne airport as he tried to board a flight, and that he was arrested based on information forwarded by British officials.

"He has been detained unnecessarily. He is innocent," Qurat-ul-ain, Haneef's mother, told The Associated Press in the southern Indian city of Bangalore.

The son of a school teacher, Haneef was raised in the Karnataka state town of Moodigere. His family now lives in an apartment in an upscale area of Bangalore where they moved after his father died 10 years ago.

He studied at the Rajiv Gandhi Health University's medical college in Bangalore from 1997-2002, The Times Of India newspaper quoted S. Sachhidanand, a university registrar, as saying.

Haneef is one of eight men _ all of them health workers _ detained in connection with failed car bomb plots Friday and Saturday in London and Glasgow, Scotland.

Officials in Australia, where Haneef worked at a hospital, have noted publicly that Haneef had a one-way ticket at the Melbourne airport late Monday.

Sumayya, Haneef's sister, said on Wednesday that Haneef was coming to Bangalore from Australia to see his daughter who was born a week ago. Sumayya uses one name.

"He called us before leaving (Australia). We came to know about his detention through media," Sumayya told The Associated Press.

"He is a responsible citizen of the country and the Indian government should help us get him back," she said. "His aim has been to be a good doctor."

The family hasn't been able to contact Haneef.

"He is all alone there. I am frantically trying to contact him in Melbourne through the Indian embassy," Haneef's wife, Firdous, told The Times Of India.

Manik Prabhu, a doctor who studied with Haneef, said Haneef never used to mingle with other students.

"He looked like a guy who had taken fun out of his life," The Times Of India quoted Prabhu as saying.

S. Yogendra, another class mate of Haneef, told the daily that Haneef looked depressed toward the end of the course in 2002.

Haneef's family moved to Bangalore after his father died 10 years ago, it said.