Post Paris attacks, NIA hunts for Bijnor blast accused

LUCKNOW: Following the countrywide alert issued after Paris attack, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has put the focus on tracing alleged SIMI operatives said to be behind the blast in UP’s Bijnor district last year.
On November 16, NIA asked UP Police to hand over the documents and evidences related to two additional FIRs lodged by Bijnor police in connection with the blast.NIA had registered a case against six SIMI operatives in April this year, but the two additional FIRs were not included in it.
On September 12 last year, an improvised explosive device went off accidentally in a house in Jatan locality of Bijnor. Probe revealed the rented house was the hideout of five SIMI members who had escaped from Khandwa jail in Madhya Pradesh in 2013. The accused were staying with another SIMI member under fake Hindu names.
The six accused were identified as Sheikh Mehboob Maliq, Amjad, Zakir Hussain, Salik, Aizazuddin and Aslam. Aizazuddin and Aslam were gunned down in a police encounter in Telangana in April this year, while the remaining four are at large.
Six days after the blast, police arrested a woman, Husna, in Bijnor and recovered Rs 1.80 lakh and a detonator from her. She was also accused of waging war against country in a separate FIR. On the same day, father-son duo of Raees Ahmed and Abdullah were nabbed for possessing three batteries and a detonator and providing shelter to SIMI men. The duo, who had rented out the house to SIMI members, was named in a third FIR on charges of conspiracy to organise terror attacks.
A total of three FIRs under sections amounting to waging war against country were registered at Bijnor Kotwali. Apart from IPC sections 121(A) and 122 which amount to waging war, Explosive Substances Act, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act were also pressed in the three FIRs.
A case against Husna, Raees and Abdullah was registered at NIA police station in New Delhi recently and DySP NIA RK Singh has been made the investigating officer.