Ahmedabad: Two men associated with the
banned organisation SIMI (Students` Islamic Movement of India)
have been arrested on the eve of the 133rd Lord Jagannath`s
rathyatra in the city, police said on Monday.
"Two men associated with SIMI were arrested yesterday
following a tip off that they were in the city for last few
months," deputy commissioner of police (DCP) crime, Himanshu
Shukla told reporters here on Monday.
One Abu alias Abdulvali alias Abdufakir Siddiqui (34) and
Hasibraza alias Samim Sayyed (43) were arrested from near Prem
Darwaja area when they were traveling on a motorcycle.
"Hasibraza hails from Patna in Bihar and is an accused in
the conspiracy to blow up Howrah bridge in Kolkatta. He also
has number of cases registered against him for anti-social
activities," Shukla said.
"Hasibraza is also accused of sending youths from Jalgaon
in Maharashtra for training in Pakistan. He has been a top
officer-bearer of SIMI previously and was actively involved in
its activities," he said.
Siddiqui, who originally hails from Azamgadh in Uttar
Pradesh, has been residing in the city for years. Hasibraza
was working in a cloth shop here for last last seven months,
Shukla said.
A revolver, 20 live bullets and an air gun have also been
recovered from the duo, he added.
Shukla said they would be seeking remand of the duo to
get more details of their activities in the state.
Source in the crime branch said they are also
investigating if these two were associated with serial bomb
blasts that rocked the city on July 26, 2008.
Siddiqui and Hasibraza are being interrogated to find out
about their activities ahead of the rathyatra and if anybody
else was supporting them in the city.
In view of the rathyatra scheduled for tomorrow, the
police department has made robust security arrangements with
over 14,000 policemen and 4500 home guard jawans deployed
across the city.
The police department had last night done a combing
operation in sensitive areas of the city and rounded up many
anti-social elements ahead of the rathyatra.
Forty cameras have been set up for continuous video
recording and monitoring of the rathyatra, while 200 specially
trained men by the Anti-terrorist squad (ATS) would screen the
rathyatra route before it passes through the area.
Four Bomb disposal squads (BDS), nine quick response
teams (QRTs), and 27 mobile Police Control Room (PCR) vans
would also be deployed for the rathyatra in the city.
PTI
