Hyderabad: What has Hyderabad Biryani got to do with terror activities in India? As the latest discovery by the police in Hyderabad suggests, both are connected in a bizarre way. Hyderabad Biryani is the code name for literature on explosives recovered from two activists of Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).

The two – Shah Mudassir, 25, from Omerkhed and Shoeb Ahmed Khan, 24, from Akhada in Maharashtra – were taken into custody on Wednesday. The literature is potent that it could kindle emotions and ignite terror strikes any time, according to those familiar with the content.

The duo was supposed to be leaving for Afghanistan for training in jihad by al Qaeda. They came to Hyderabad to meet their friends from Saidabad area who connected with them through social media.  Commissioner of Hyderabad City Police M Mahender Reddy on Friday said that the police had arrested only two SIMI activists and no other arrests were made. However, sources revealed that the police were working on the leads provided by the duo to crack the mystery behind the network.

The Deputy Commissioner of Police of North Zone of Hyderabad Police R Jayalakshmi said in a press release that Shoeb was an associate of Mansoor Ali Peerboy, the media in-charge of Indian Mujahideen (IM), Pune Module. The tech-savvy Shoeb, who is a strong jihadist, was also a close friend of Mudassir.

The police arrested Mudassir and Shoeb Khan on the charges of hatching a conspiracy to organise terror strikes with Pakistani nationals Abu Asif and Kamaran Sha, Afghanistan national Zahid Al Hind and three residents of Saidabad in Hyderabad, Mir Showkath, Sameer Khan and Mothasim Billah.

The arrested duo was deft at using social networks for the propagation of jihad. They acquainted themselves with Pakistani nationals Abu Saif, and Kamaran Sha, and Zahid Al Hindi from Afghanistan, and the three Hyderabad residents through their several Facebook accounts.

Mothasim Billah, one of the residents of Saidabad, Hyderabad, is a former SIMI member and son of Islahi, a controversial Islamic Scholar of Hyderabad. During Facebook chats, Zahid Al Hindi of Pakistan and Mothasim Billah of Hyderabad used to “motivate” Mudassir and Shoeb Ahmed to join the jihadi movement.

“Once, Kamaran Sha of Pakistan shared literature through Facebook on explosives wherein three methods of explosive manufacturing from the locally and easily available chemicals was narrated,” said the police. Through this contact, Kamaran Sha induced both these persons to manufacture bombs and execute blasts in Maharashtra and that he would be happy to see this would have a domino’s effect across India.

The police disclosed that Mudassir and Shoeb visited Hyderabad on 3 September and met Mothasim Billah. The latter “motivated them to go to Afghanistan to get training from Al-Qaeda in order to wage jihad in India to establish Islamic State,” said the DCP of North Zone.

Mothasim even volunteered to extended financial support for visa processing. He asked Mudassir and Shoeb to go over to Hyderabad on 10 October. Following his instructions, the two came to Hyderabad to meet Mothasim Billah and seek his help for taking the plan forward. They also brought literature on explosives and some SIMI literature.

The DCP disclosed that the ‘explosive literature’ was codenamed as ‘Hyderabadi Biryani’. They also brought a cover page for a book ‘Jihad Kya Hai’ authored by his father Islahi. Shoeb was prepared to go to Afghanistan.

On the arrival of the duo at Secunderabad railway station on Wednesday, the police smelt a rat and nabbed them. The police stumbled upon startling information during questioning. They realised that Mudassir was a member of SIMI, which was banned in 2001. He eventually joined a frontal organisation called Association of Indian Minority Student (AIMS).

The police recovered mobile phones, pen drives, compact discs, Jihadist literature, passports, driver’s license, etc from them. Commissioner of Police Mahender Reddy visited the Old City area in Hyderabad as part of the investigation and clarified to the media that barring the duo, none else was arrested in this case, as yet.

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