HYDERABAD: Shah Mudassir and Shoeb Ahmed Khan, the alleged SIMI operatives who were arrested recently, wanted to receive militant training from al-Qaida in Afghanistan so that they could wage jihad against India to establish an Islamic caliphate in the country. These sensational revelations were made by the Maharashtra-based terror suspects in their confessions to their interrogators.

Sources said that in 2011, prime accused Mudassir frequented internet cafes for browsing and maintained a Facebook page "imarat islamia hind" (Islamic State of India) in addition to other IDs including "Mudassir Talha", "altamashfaisal" and "payameshariat". In 2013 he designed a Babri Masjid image with the caption "Ilahi Bhejde Mohammed Koi" and uploaded it on his Facebook timeline on December 5, a day before the Babri Masjid demolition anniversary.

In the reported confession, Mudassir said that city-based student Moutasim Billah "liked" the photo and reportedly commented "beshak" (definitely). Billah later downloaded the poster and erected it in Saidabad on December 6. After ascertaining Moutasim's SIMI background and his alleged "jihadist" ideology, Mudassir regularly chatted with him.

Mudassir later befriended tech-savvy Khan over Facebook with his ID "Tariqbinziyad" and developed contacts with Pakistani nationals Kamran Shah and Zahid al Hindi. The duo was in contact with each other through the social networking website, upon which Billah invited them to Hyderabad to chalk out a plan to go to Afghanistan rather than Iraq. Mudassir and Khan arrived in the city on September 9.

On the same day, Billah received the duo near Salar Jung Museum and took them to Jamiatul Banath Islahia, a seminary in Malakpet.

The dispute between Moulana Abdul Aleem Islahi, Billah's father, and hardliner cleric Moulana Naseeruddin over the seminary was also discussed in the meeting.

The arrested activists reportedly confessed that though Billah had strong jihadist leanings, he was being careful about his activities as he believed he was under police surveillance. Billah allegedly created the fake Facebook ID "Umme Saman" and was communicating with the duo. He encouraged them to go to Afghanistan to get training from al-Qaida in order to wage jihad in India for the creation of an Islamic state.

The other accused in the case, Zahid Al Hindi, told the duo to go to either Qatar or Iran. He assured them help to travel to Afghanistan. Kamaran Sha of Pakistan shared literature on explosives through Facebook. The police are likely to take the two accused into police custody in order to extract more information.

