Odisha SIMI arrests: ‘Accused planned blasts to avenge Muzaffarnagar riots’

Mangalore Today News Network

Feb 22, 2016: Four men with alleged SIMI links who were arrested earlier this week from Odisha’s Rourkela have told interrogators that they planned to take revenge for the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots by executing a series of motorcycle bomb blasts, police said.

Alleged SIMI operatives Sheikh Mahboob, Amjad Khan, Zakir Hussein and Mohammed Salek were arrested along with Mahboob’s mother Nazma Bi on February 17.

The five are being interrogated at a training centre of the anti-Maoist force, the SOG, in Bhubaneswar. Police said they told the interrogators that they planned to take revenge for the riots in which about 60 people lost their lives and thousands were displaced.

Police sources said the operatives planned to make IEDs and strap bombs to motorcycles, which would then be set off in crowded localities.

“They had done a recce a few times. But the IEDs they were making in Bijnor exploded, causing massive damage to the house. Mahboob was badly injured in the blast,” said a source. “The Bijnor blast put a stop to their plans in Muzaffarnagar.”

After the blast, the alleged SIMI operatives went to several cities in south India. They then finally landed in Odisha’s Bhadrak town in June last year and took a house on rent.