Police from 5 states on lookout of SIMI cadres on the run
Two of the escaped undertrials were killed in an encounter two days back in Nalgonda
Hyderabad: Police from five states have intensified the search for three suspected members of banned outfit SIMI who were part of a group of seven undertrials to have escaped from Madhya Pradesh's Khandwa jail in 2013, Telangana Home Minister N Narasimha Reddy said.
Two of the escaped undertrials -- Mohammed Aijajuddeen, a native of Kareli in Narsinghpur district of Madhya Pradesh, and Mohammed Aslam alias Bilal who hails from Ganesh Talai in Khandwa -- were killed in an encounter two days back in Nalgonda district of Telangana. The duo were allegedly involved in several cases in various states.
Of the seven undertrials who had escaped from jail, one was earlier apprehended by police while another one had surrendered.
"Police from five states came here. They are searching in Nalgonda district for three of the gang members. We do not have any reports suggesting that there are any activities of SIMI in Hyderabad," Reddy said.
Telangana police, in coordination with their counterparts from other states including Madhya Pradesh, UP, Maharashtra and West Bengal, are investigating the encounter case, a senior police official said.
Nalgonda police said the body of Aijajuddeen was handed over to his family members after conducting postmortem.
Telangana DGP Anurag Sharma had earlier said that the duo (killed in encounter) were also suspected to be involved in triggering a blast in Bengaluru-Guwahati Express at Chennai Railway Station in May last year in which a woman was killed and 14 were injured.
They were also believed to be involved in setting off an explosion in front of Faraskhana police station near famous Dagdusheth Halwai Ganesh temple in Pune in July last year, Sharma had said.
The two were on the run since they opened fire and killed a police constable and a Home Guard personnel who were part of a police team checking vehicles for suspicious passengers at Suryapet bus stand in Nalgonda on the intervening night of April 1 and 2.
A circle inspector and another Home Guard personnel were injured in the firing, the DGP said, adding that the duo had also tried to stop a car at gunpoint and injured one civilian when the driver of the car sped on.