Five men keep entire nations police force on tenterhooks

Bengaluru, Dec 9: They are involved in three major robberies, they planted a bomb on the Chennai train, they also are accused of carrying out a blast in Bijnor. Yesterday a country wide alert was issued stating that these youth who broke out of the Khandwa jail last year are planning on carrying out a spate of attacks across the country particularly down South.

It is quite astonishing that a group of five persons belonging to the outlawed Students Islamic Movement of India are causing so many problems for the security agencies that all the state police forces put together are unable to nab them. It is pitiable that five people have kept almost all the agencies on tenterhooks.

The beginning:

On October 1 1013, 6 youth belonging to the SIMI made a sensational escape from the Khandwa jail. Led by their leader Abu Faisal alias Doctor, they escaped into the night causing a major embarrassment to the jail authorities in Khandwa. The men along with Faisal who escaped were Aizaduddin, Mehboob, Zakir Hussain, Amjad Khan and Aslam Ayub.

It is said that they scaled a 16 foot wall of the jail and before making this escape. The only one to be arrested was Abu Faisal the leader of the gang who was facing terror charges along with the rest.

The plan:

After their escape, various excuses were given. The Madhya Pradesh police blamed the jail authorities and even said that one constable had provided them with support. This was being investigated, but till date none including the National Investigating Agency has arrived at any conclusion as yet.

As per the police in Madhya Pradesh, the plan of these youth was to revive the SIMI. However, they also added that these youth were headed to Gujarat to carry out a dare devil attack and have their supreme leader Safdar Nagori released from jail.

However none of them went to Gujarat and gradually the intelligence on them was completely lost. It was then stated by the agencies that the plan was to revive the SIMI and they would try and raise money to strengthen their outfit.

The robberies:

While it was being largely stated that they would land in Gujarat after this escape they, in fact, moved to Karimnagar district in Telangana. Out there on February 1, 2014, these persons are said to have carried out a major robbery at the Choppandi branch of the State Bank of India. The police, however, realized almost after 8 months that this robbery was carried out by the same youth who broke out of the Khandwa jail.

After this their next destination was Madhya Pradesh, the state from where they escaped. This time the Nadan branch of the Madhyanchal rural Bank at Sathna was the target. It was alleged that these five youth had robbed Rs 15 lakh at gun point before fleeing.

The blasts:

Not enough that these five youth were carrying out robberies, their role was also found in two blasts according to the police. First, a blast at Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh was reported. It was alleged that in the month of September 2014, there was a blast inside a house at Bijnor. This was being termed as an accidental blast and before they could be caught they managed to escape again. The UP police were quick to say that these were the same youth who had escaped from the Khandwa jail.

After this blast, there was an explosion in Bangalore-Chennai train. A lot of theories emerged at first and then the probe hit a dead end. However later the officials claimed that this blast too was carried out by the five youth who escaped from the Khandwa jail.

The alert:

An alert was sounded yesterday by the Intelligence Bureau suggesting that the same five youth could carry out attacks in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. This alert has woken up the state police and they appear to be on their toes now. Security has been beefed up and the state intelligence units have been told to gather as much information as possible.

Central Intelligence Bureau officials point out that it is disheartening to learn that so many alerts shared by them were not acted upon by the state police. The IB can at the most issue an alert and the rest of the job is the duty of the state police. These youth have constantly been dodging the police time and again and it is becoming an embarrassment. They are like lone wolves today and if not nabbed can create a lot of problems.