SIMI activist found with Geelani CDs: Police

The Kerala Police on Friday submitted in the Kerala High Court that it had recovered DVDs featuring SAR Geelani, one of the accused in the Parliament attack, case from the homes of some of the youth who had participated in the SIMI camp at Panayikkulam near Aluva off Kochi, held on August 15, 2006.

The SIMI meet at Panayikkulam was reportedly where the schedule was prepared for the training camp held in the hill resort of Vagamon, Idukki, Kerala, which, according to the Gujarat Police, was organised for the basic preparations for carrying out the bombings in Ahmedabad. The Kerala Police had taken into custody five of the 15 participants in the meeting but released them later after the alleged intervention of highly influential personalities.

Filing a petition seeking cancellation of the bail granted to some of the accused in the case relating to the SIMI camp, the police told the court that they were examining their antecedents and whether these men had any relations with the accused in the Parliament attack case. They also said they were yet to examine in detail the DVDs, which had been submitted to the North Paravur Tehsildar as per the instructions of the Magistrate.

Police sources said the accused in the Panayikkulam camp case could have had relations with extremist elements but they refused to confirm or deny whether they had links with those behind the Parliament attack. “We will come to know in some days” was all a source in the police would say about this.

Seeking cancellation of bail granted to accused number 6 and 7 in the case of the Panayikkulam SIMI camp, the police said that their remaining free could disturb the smooth investigations. They also pointed out that accused number 1 and 3 in the case had presently been in the prison in Madhya Pradesh in relation to blast cases.

The police said the DVDs containing Geelani’s picture frames were found during searches at the homes of accused number 6 and 7 and that they were examining the disks.

The police submitted in the High Court that the smooth investigation into the case could get influenced if accused number 6 and 7, Shameer Karukappadath, Eriyad, and Abdul Hakkeem Kadakathangath, Kappal Bazar, respectively remained outside custody. The court ordered serving of notices to the duo.

D Pappachan, Principal Sessions Judge, Ernakulam, had granted bail to five of the accused after the police had failed to prove their involvement with SIMI. The judge had also observed that the police had not been able to prove that the participants at the meeting had made speeches that amounted to a crime against the nation. The five were arrested on October 20 as part of the reinvestigation of the case in the context of the new revelations against the terror network existing in Kerala.

Officials had already indicated that some of the accused in the Panayikkulam camps case had connections with some of the people taken into custody as part of the ongoing operations against terror operatives, including those of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, by the newly formed anti-terror squad of the Kerala Police.

Meanwhile, the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, Thalassery, on Friday extended the judicial custody of LeT recruiter C Muhammed Faizal, who was arrested in connection with his links with terrorist groups in Jammu & Kashmir.

The special investigation team produced him before Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate VK Rajan, who extended his judicial custody till November 21. Faizal was arrested following a tip-off from Safiya, mother of Malayalee militant Muhammad Fayaz of Kannur, who was killed by security forces in Lolab valley of Kashmir early in October. According to Safiya, Faizal had taken Fayaz away on September 10 by offering him a job in Bangalore.

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