By IANS,
New Delhi : The outlawed Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) had roped in activists of its radical offshoot Indian Mujahideen to assemble bombs and carry out a series of terror strikes in the country, sleuths investigating the serial bombings in the capital said Friday.
“In 2001 Safdar Nagori took charge of SIMI after it president Shahid Badar Falah was caught for treason. The group then changed its ideology and became more radical,” said a senior Delhi Police officer involved in the investigations into last Saturday’s blasts here.
“But after a couple of years, some people left SIMI and formed their own group, Indian Mujahadeen, that was more extremist and radical in its appraoch. Abdul Bashir (presently in the custody of the Gujarat police) told interrogators that he belonged to SIMI. Two years ago, he and Nagori decided to carry out terror strikes across the country,” the officer told IANS, speaking on condition of anonymity.
During interrogation, Bashir revealed that other senior SIMI leader Abdul Subhan Qureshi alias Taquir contacted one of the Indian Mujahideen founders, Atiq alias Bashir – who was killed in a shootout Friday by Delhi Police – and asked him to design and assemble bombs, acording to the official.
Tauqir, a Mumbai-based software professional, is said to be behind the e-mails sent to media organisations claiming responsibility for the July 26 terror attacks in Ahmedabad and in New Delhi last Saturday.
At least 24 people were killed and over 150 injured after five bombs went off at popular market places and busienss districts here.
“Bashir revealed that Tauqir and Atiq met regularly in Gujarat and Delhi. Tauqir used to tell Bashir that he was going to meet Atiq for further planning. Atiq was very clever and never gave his mobile phone number to Tauqir,” said another police official.
Three days before the Ahmedabad serial blasts, Atiq and nine associates visited the city and stayed at the house of SIMI activist Imran, later arrested by the Gujarat police.
“Atiq and his men assembled bombs and handed them over to SIMI activists, who along with some local people planted them in various parts of Ahmedabad,” the official added.
“Tauqir and his members were involved in execution of the blasts, while Atiq and his associates carried out a recee of the blast sites and assembled the bombs for them.”
The investigators said that barely a couple of hours before the bombs went off in Ahmedabad, Atiq, a resident of Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, and his associates boarded the Rajdhani Express train for to Delhi at 4.45 p.m.
For the past two-and-half months, Atiq and a few associates were staying in New Delhi’s Jamia Nagar where he and his accomplice Sajid died Friday in a shootout with the Delhi Police. His two associates managed to flee while one member identified as Saif was arrested.
The police officials said Atiq and his men also assembled bombs for the New Delhi terror attacks before carrying out a recee. The New Delhi bombs were detonated by another module of SIMI.
“We have also traced Atiq’s movements in Jaipur on May 13 when nine bombs had ripped apart the Rajasthan capital. We have evidence of Atiq’s involvement in Hyderabad’s Lumbini Park blast on Aug 25, 2007,” the official said.
The police have recovered laptops and mobile phones from their rented house in Jamia Nagar and were searching for further leads into the terror strikes.
The Special Cell officers involved in the shootout said they did not have much information about the Indian Mujahideen except for these 10 people.