Rourkela: The anti-terrorist squad (ATS) of Madhya Pradesh police on Thursday made an appeal before the court of Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) to take Mohammad Salek, one of the five terrorists of Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) recently arrested from here, on remand.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has already taken three other arrested SIMI terrorists—Amjad Khan, Zakir Hussein and Sheikh Mehmoob— on 15-day remand to New Delhi for further interrogation.
Notably, the four SIMI ultras and a Muslim woman, Najma (mother of Sheikh Mehmoob) were arrested by the police from a rented house in Rourkela on February 16 night this year.
All of them are residents of Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh and were among the most-wanted terrorists in the country and the NIA had announced Rs 10 lakh reward on each of their heads.
The arrested were involved in 17 blasts at various places. Their records showed that they were involved in the killing of two policemen in Telangana and one in Madhya Pradesh. They had escaped from Khandwa Jail in Madhya Pradesh in 2013. They had also robbed Rs 48 lakh from a bank in Telangana.
Soon after their arrest, the Special Task Force (STF) team of the State Crime Branch had interrogated them and collected vital information about their modus operandi during their stay in Odisha.
Apart from Rourkela, the five SIMI ultras had also stayed in a rented house at Bhadrak. The Crime Branch police had also interrogated the house owners.