Development in the last one week once again put Uttar Pradesh on terror map when two of the suspected terrorists hailing from the state were gunned down in an alleged separate encounter with Telangana police while one another was held by the sleuths of the Anti-Terrorists Squad (ATS) of Gujrat, for supplying arms and ammunitions to militants involved in killing of a policeman in Ahmedabad.
Interestingly, the sleuths of the elite ATS of Utttar Pradesh, were so far groping in dark to make a breakthrough in well organised of network of Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), a banned organisation, which came to the fore when a blast took place inside a rented house in Bijnore. The sleuths were trialing behind the SIMI men for now almost last one year but when they failed to get any clue, the cops of the Telangana police claimed to have gunned down two of the members on last Saturday while one another SIMI men was killed in a separate encounter with Telangana police earlier this week.
Reports said that after a long lull, the sleuths of the UP ATS once again came on their toes when a blast took place in Bijnore in September last year. Probe by ATS pointed that all the six youths who took the house to operate terror activities were active members of SIMI and had evaded from Khandwa Jail in Madhya Pradesh on October 1, 2013. They were identified as Aijazuddin, Mohd Aslam, Zakir Hussain, Mehboob alias Guddu and Amjad. Recovery of official identity proofs of Khandwa, Ujjain and Nandurbar from the house where they were staying in disguised identity of Hindu youths, have further buttressed the investigations about the men being from MP.
They were staying under fake identity of Hindu youths at the house of an octogenarian widow since July 14. The search of the house in Jatan locality has led the UP police to a gas cylinder, timer device, wires and other incriminating material, besides a 9 mm pistol and laptop. The recovery of gas cylinder suggested that the men could have been preparing similar lPG cylinder-timer based explosives, similar to those used in the July 2013 serial blasts at the Mahabodhi Temple premises in Gaya-Bihar.
When the UP ATS, which claimed to have launced a massive hunt for above SIMI conduits, failed to make any major breakthrough, the Telangana police gave a shocker to them when they gunned two SIMI men, Aijazuddin and Mohamed Aslam in Nalgonda district on last Saturday and claimed them not just to be the two SIMI men who were fleeing after Bijnore blast, but also accused them of gunning down three persons and robbing cash from ATM Van in lucknow.
Just three days after the above encounter in which Talangana police revealed UP connection of the terrorists, they gunned down five more suspected militants identified as Vicaruddin, Syed Amjad, M Hanif, M Zakir and Izhar Khan, in an alleged encounter in Warrangal on last Tuesday. Besides others, Izhar Khan hails from lucknow.
Sources said that when the UP ATS once again geared up after State’s connection came to the fore in encounter in Warrangal, the sleuths of the Gujrat ATS came to lucknow on Wednesday evening and raided a house in Kaiserbagh and arrested one another suspected militant Hashim Ujma aka Manzul. Manzul, reportedly not just have links with Izhar Khan killed in Warrangal but he alleged to have supplied weapons to militants involved in killing of a policemen in Ahmedabad besides other terror cases. Manzul’s involvement and the fact that he was living freely and alleged to be facilitating militants groups, not just exposed connection of UP in the terror map but also raised finger over working of the UP ATS.