Bhadrak: A team of Special Task Force (STF) personnel from Odisha police, accompanied by Crime Branch Special DG BK Sharma and IG Arun Bothra, today seized some incriminating documents from the rented house at Nangamahala in Bhadrak, where the SIMI operatives arrested in Rourkela on Wednesday were staying for months.
The STF seized two mobile phones, SIMI journals, pen-drive, wire and a dongle during the raid. The seized items will be sent to State Forensic Laboratory in Bhubaneswar for examination, an investigating official said adding the house owner is being interrogated in this connection.
The team, along with two operatives of the outlawed outfit -Zakir and Salique - reached the rented house at Nanga Mahala in Bhadrak today for investigation.
Earlier in the day, a three-member team of the Madhya Pradesh STF arrived in Bhadrak to investigate the case pertaining to the arrest of the five terrorists.
During interrogation, they had admitted that they had stayed in Bhadrak on rent for eight months before moving to Rourkela. However, the house had been locked for the last one month.
In the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday, a joint operation by multiple security agencies had led to the arrest of four SIMI members - Sk Mehboob, Amzad Khan, Zakir Hussain and Md Saleq. Mehboob’s 60-year-old mother Nazma Biwi was also held from the hideout in Rourkela.
After their arrest on Wednesday, police had traced the house in Nangamahala area. The landlord was shown pictures of the five terrorists whom he recognised.
"In Bhadrak, they would stay for seven to eight days and then move. About a month back, they told the landlord that they are were going for Nazma’s treatment. They did not go to Rourkela directly from Bhadrak. We believe they went through Ranchi,” Arun Sarangi, special director (Intelligence) had said after arrest.