Shahbaz gives details of SIMI training camps

Hussain is also said to have told the police that SIMI operated independently and had no connections with other terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Toiba or HuJI. Other than Kota, police have also identified four other possible SIMI hotspots — Jaipur, Jodhpur, Sawai Madhopur and Tonk — in the state. “We have no proof as such about training camps being held there, but recruitment did happen here. This is still a matter of investigation,” a police official said.

SIMI chose Kota, a BJP stronghold, as its training and recruitment base in Rajasthan as a mark of rebellion after the organisation was banned in the country, Husain is said to have revealed.

The state SIMI network was headed by Safdar Nagori’s brother, Kamruddin, who was sent to Rajasthan to enhance SIMI’s presence there. Both were arrested from MP earlier this year. The Rajasthan Police said Sajid Mansuri and Hussain began recruiting and training in Kota with the help of local SIMI sympathisers.

The Gujarat Police arrested Mansuri in connection with the Ahmedabad blasts on August 16, and the Rajasthan Police arrested Hussain a day later in Uttar Pradesh.

The police believe Hussain was the head of SIMI’s legal and journalism cell. He is a mass communication graduate from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication.

The four training camps were held in Nanta in Kota near a thermal power station close to an abandoned madarsa, said police. Each camp lasted two to three days, where the cadres, local youths drafted by regional SIMI leaders, were indoctrinated and given physical training.

The police suspect Munawar Khan, a tailor, and Dr Ishaque Qureshi, both arrested on Monday along with five others, were SIMI’s main recruiting agents in the state.

“These men were already trained in camps in states like MP, Kerala, Gujarat and Karnataka. The prime suspects in these blasts, Abu Bashir Mufti, Hussain and Mansuri, were present in each of these camps,” a police official said.

“Hussain also claims that SIMI was not involved with other terror outfits, but this is still a matter of investigation,” said an SIT member.