Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhadrak, Feb 19:

Special Task Force (STF) team of the Odisha police along with two arrested SIMI operatives today arrived at Nanga Mahala in Bhadrak. The team is accompanied by Crime Branch Special DG BK Sharma and IG Arun Bothra.

Bhadrak SIMI House

Earlier in the day, a three member team of the Special Task Force (STF) of the Madhya Pradesh police arrived in Bhadrak to investigate in the case pertaining to arrest of five Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) operatives from Rourkela.

The five SIMI operatives who had escaped from the Khandwa district jail in Madhya Pradesh jail on October 1, 2013 by scaling a 14 ft high wall and were on the run have confessed during interrogation that they had also stayed in a house in Nanga Mahala locality of Bhadrak on rent for eight months before moving to Rourkela where they were arrested. However, the house has been under lock and key for about a month, local sources said.

The STF team from MP will be examining the house where the fugitive SIMI operatives had stayed. The Odisha police has sealed the house and has cordoned it off ever since it came to light that the SIMI men had stayed in it on rent.

Meanwhile, Bhadrak police has detained the house owner Munna Khan and is questioning him. Khan is a businessman who stays in West Bengal. On being informed about the incident he has arrived in Bhadrak yesterday, revealed sources.