Failing to get trace of any of the five hard-crore members of banned terror outfit, Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) (SIMI), who slipped after blast in Bijnore last week, local police finally issued their pictures on Monday.
The accused, who were reportedly identified through the CCTV footage as SIMI operatives, had fled from Khandwa jail in Madhya Pradesh in October last year, disclosed IG (crime) Amitabh Yash, while revealing the development to media persons here on Monday evening. ``The photos have been issued to help in tracing them”, he disclosed, adding, several teams have been set up to trace out the whereabouts of the
accused and to lay a trap on them.
Meanwhile, sources confirmed that one of the injured SIMI operative, identified as Mehboob aka Guddi Malik, has been traced by the sleuths of the Anti-Terrorists Squad, though they so far denied of thedevelopment. It may be mentioned that on Saturday and Sunday, local authorities at Bijnore along with sleuths of the ATS had conducted massive search operation in all the suspected hide-outs and had also taken help of local persons to identify the culprits after showing pictures of SIMI activists.
Sources also confirmed that with the help of Mehboob and also with the pictures which they received from Khandwa district jail and matched with the youths whose identity were captured in the CCTVs, the identity of other SIMI conduits has been established as Amzad, Aslam, Ejajudeen, Abu Faisal and Zakir Hussain. Now, the UP ATS is in touch with their counterparts in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharastra and also in Gujrat, to help them in arresting the other SIMI members.
Meanwhile, three people have been arrested in Bijnore on charges of issuing data cards to these accused on the basis of fake IDs, Amitabh Yash, told media persons here on Monday evening. They were identified as Gaurav, Asheesh and Jaspal Sethi. The IG, however, clarified that the state government has not announced any cash reward for the five accused so far. On Friday, just a day before the by-polls in the state, a low-intensity blast occurred inside a house in Jatan locality under Kotwali police station area of Bijnore allegedly while making crude bomb. Police had initially said that four youth including two injured had escaped. However, later it came to knowledge that half a
dozen youths had slipped just after the blast. Different agencies involved in the investigations had suspected the hand of SIMI operatives in the case and the Madhya Pradesh police had identified them as those who had fled from Khandwa jail.