The hope of finding crucial leads in the February 2007 terrorist attack on the Samjhauta Express, following last month’s arrest of key leaders of the Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), is fading. Several items which were used to pack the incendiary devices that killed 68 people on the train to Pakistan were traced to Indore. When SIMI leader Safdar Nagori and 12 others were picked up from Indore on March 27, investigators hoped they could crack open the case. However, during narco-analysis tests conducted in Bangalore this month, Nagori has told investigators that he had not helped anyone procure items like suitcases, lunch boxes and bottles for packaging the bombs used in the attack on the peace train. Instead, he told investigators he suspected another SIMI member from Madhya Pradesh, Abdul Aziz, provided logistical support for carrying out the attack. “During the test Nagori did not state that Abdul Aziz provided support for the attack. He said Aziz could have done it,” sources said. Nagori was subjected to the narco-analysis test along with his brother Kamruddin and the alleged SIMI leader for Madhya Pradesh, Amil Pervez, between April 9 and 11.According to sources, a Haryana police officer who was present in Bangalore at the time of the tests had followed up on the name given by Nagori and picked up Abdul Aziz. Aziz was also subjected to narco-analysis tests at the forensic science lab at Ahmedabad, but he failed to provide any concrete information on the February 2007 attacks. During interrogations soon after his arrest, Nagori had told police officers that he had visited Karnataka on more than 30 occasions to organise cadre and meetings. The Karnataka police, who are scheduled to file a chargesheet on April 30 in their investigations into SIMI activities in the state, are hoping to secure custody of all 13 persons arrested last month by the Madhya Pradesh police. The Corps of Detectives who are investigating the case in Karnataka have already sought the custody of five of the arrested, including Nagori, his brother Kamruddin, computer hardware engineer Shibly Abdul, his brother Shaduly Abdul and Adnan alias Hafeez, the alleged head of Nagori’s SIMI faction in Karnataka.
