In what appears to be contradictory to the claim made by Delhi Police, their Gujarat counterpart today said that the Students Islamic Movement of India, which is allegedly behind the recent serial blasts in the country, has various levels and modules.
"SIMI has various levels and have many modules," joint commissioner of police, Ashish Bhatia, said replying to a question on reported claim made by Delhi Police that Atif, one of the terrorists killed on Friday was the mastermind of the Delhi, Ahmedabad and other blasts in the country.
However, Bhatia, who is heading the investigation in the July 26 serial blasts in Ahmedabad, refrained from directly rejecting the claim by Delhi Police that Atif was one of the masterminds behind recent blasts.
"These (arrests and encounter) are not an end to it. There are many key operatives of the organisation who are still out there. SIMI has many modules," Bhatia said.
"Atif was one of the key members of the banned outfit. He was present in Ahmedabad at the time of the serial blasts with ten others," Bhatia further said.
The Ahmedabad Crime Branch, which is tracking the activity of the banned SIMI and its offshoot Indian Mujahideen since July 26, said the organisation operated at different levels while executing the terror attacks like - the motivators, the logistics providers and the executors.
Speaking about the three--Mufti Abu Basher, Tauqueer and Qayamuddin Kapaida--who the city police say were the masterminds behind the Ahmedabad blasts, Bhatia said, "Abu Basher caught by the city police comes in motivator level, while Tauqueer is the mastermind and Qayamuddin is the chief executor of the organisation."
How Modi's police cracked the blasts case