Khandwa SIMI members ‘shot Aurangabad ATS cop in 2012’

Members of the Khandwa module of the Students Islamic movement of India, to which the eight men killed in an encounter in Bhopal on Monday belonged, allegedly shot and injured an anti-terrorism squad constable in Aurangabad in 2012.

Members of the Khandwa module of the Students Islamic movement of India (SIMI), to which the eight men killed in an encounter in Bhopal on Monday belonged, allegedly shot and injured an anti-terrorism squad constable in Aurangabad in March 2012, according to an ATS source. Aqeel Khilji, one of the men shot dead in Bhopal, was one of four men arrested by the Maharashtra ATS at the time.

Bodies of SIMI terrorists who were killed in Monday’s encounter, being handed over to their relatives and family members in Bhopal on Tuesday. (PTI)

The source said that members of the module first arrived in Jalna as one of them had connections there. They later took shelter at a dargha in Buldhana after moving to Aungabad and trying to set up a base there. The source said they had come to the state to recruit for SIMI while committing robberies to finance their activities.

In March 2012, acting on a tip-off, ATS officials intercepted five members of the module in Aurangabad. An encounter ensued, during SIMI member Khalil Khuresi, 20, wanted in several cases in MP, was shot dead and ATS constable Sheikh Arif Ismail was injured in the left shoulder.

Apart from Khilji, the ATS arrested Mohammed Abrar, alias Abrar Sheikh, 32, a resident of Ujjan; Mohammed Shakir Mohammed Akhil, 32; and Mohammed Jaffar Hussian Khuresi. During their interrogation, they told ATS officers they had been in the process of setting up a base in Maharashtra when they were arrested, according to the source.

A senior police official, who did not wish to be named, said, “Their aims were recruitment, creating a base and raising money for terror activity but luckily they did not have much impact and were arrested in 2012.”