NEW TARGET: Praveen Togadia

Contrary to popular belief, SIMI operatives are not planning to target top leaders like L K Advani, Atal Behari Vajpayee and Uma Bharti. They are instead closing in on fundamentalist leaders Praveen Togadia, Babu Bajrangi, Munna Bajrangi. Incidentally, encounter specialist Daya Nayak is also on the hit list.

This came to light after high-ranking SIMI leader Kamruddin was subject to narco analysis in Bangalore recently. He was being questioned in connection with his alleged role in the Jaipur blasts. Kamruddin told the police that they had assigned a functionary, Etheshyam, to get the names of the Hindu activists named in the Sri Krishna Commission report.

The plan was to systematically eliminate them. Etheshyam could not accomplish the task, as he was arrested in connection with the 7/11 blasts in Mumbai. But there are indications that the job was reassigned.

The reasons

Senior police officers said Advani, vajpayee and Bharti were probably excluded because of their age or gender. Moreover, the ageing leaders were now seen as moderate in comparison to Togadia and Bajrangi.

Insiders said Nayak could be on the list because he was planning to switch to politics and there is a strong possibility that SIMI knew which party he is leaning towards.

Recruiting shooters

The analysis also points to a secret drive to recruit shooters from countries like Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Palestine. The outfit has already procured a huge cache of handguns recently. The task to recruit shooters has been assigned to Abdul Subhan Qureshi alias Taufique Bilal, who has been accused of sending the e-mail before the Ahmedabad blasts.

Superintendent of Police Chanchal Shekar, who conducted the inquiry, confirmed the names that had come up during the narco tests, but said he was not authorised to talk about why they were on the hit list.