Gumi made the disclosure in an interview as he responded to critics who clamoured for his arrest for making case for bandits and for visiting them in their forest conclaves.
He called the critics clowns and said he had also been a victim of the bandits on several occasions.
“Also in our mosque, we have paid ransom. Even now, somebody is asking me to assist him to pay ransom. Our family driver who happens to be our relative, his son, a private soldier, was killed by bandits. So how I can support such people?,” Gumi told Premium Times.
The Islamic cleric who said his efforts with bandits have been sabotaged recently said he has quit meeting with bandits because it will be dangerous for him to continue to engage with them.
Gumi described those calling for his arrest as not different from bandits stressing that it is a constitutional right for someone to express his views.
The cleric said his efforts is to prevent banditry in his own way stating that he has also been a victim of banditry.
