3 min readNew DelhiDec 22, 2015 02:52 AM IST
First published on: Dec 22, 2015 at 02:52 AM IST
Intelligence agencies have intensified their search for three SIMI men who escaped from Madhya Pradesh’s Khandwa jail in 2013. Sources said the search for the trio, last traced to Karnataka, has been escalated after fears that they may be tapped by al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).
The recent arrests of three men from Uttar Pradesh and Odisha, who are allegedly linked to the AQIS, has brought the focus back on an outfit that has long been considered a more immediate threat than the Islamic State (IS).
In October 2013, seven SIMI activists had escaped from Khandwa jail. While two of them were arrested and two killed in an encounter in Telangana, three are still at large. These men, identified as Zakir Hussain alias Sadiq Badrul Hussain, Mehboob alias Guddu Ismail Khan and Amzad Ramzan Khan, are suspected to be behind some recent blasts in the country.
“There are three SIMI men, suspected to be behind the recent Bijnor, Chennai and Pune blasts, who are still on the loose. They are looking for organisational support,” said an intelligence official.
Several arrested SIMI members are reported to have expressed their desire to fight alongside al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. The Indian outfit is even reported to have donated money to al-Qaeda coffers.
An accused in the 2013 blasts which targeted Narendra Modi’s Patna rally is reported to have earlier sent Rs 3 lakh to Afghanistan “for helping poor fellow Muslims”. This money, intelligence sources said, went to al-Qaeda coffers. One of the accused even wanted to escape to Afghanistan after the attack.
An NIA chargesheet filed in the Patna blasts case states, “It was further disclosed that in April/ May 2012, accused Haidar Ali provided Rs 3 lakh to accused Umer Siddique (a Chhattisgarh teacher who was the ideological head of the module) and asked him to send the money to Afghanistan to help poor fellow Muslims, since they have been facing war for several years. A religious leader of Sindhi community, who was a resident of Raipur, sent the said amount to Afghanistan. The amount was deposited by the said Sindhi leader in the account of Zair Ali Khan maintained at Bank Alfala, Karachi, Pakistan.”
Intelligence sources said this clearly indicates the deepening links between Indian terrorist outfits and the al-Qaeda, with the SIMI turning out to be the biggest vulnerable group which the terror outfit may tap in India.
Sources said that besides SIMI, Indian Mujahideen operatives have also expressed their desire to fight alongside al-Qaeda and have met the outfit’s leaders in the Af-Pak region.
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