Suspicious phone calls allegedly made to one private phone number in Saudi Arabia from a cell phone in Bengaluru were intercepted by the counter-intelligence cell of Andhra Pradesh, which immediately alerted the central crime branch of the Bengaluru police. The CCB had also collected technical and human intelligence on the caller ID and the nature of the calls being made reportedly from Muthi-ur-Rehman.
This is what led to the revealing of a new terrorist outfit, said to be an offshoot of the banned Simi and which is reportedly behind the “Hubli module” allegedly involved in a conspiracy to eliminate top local BJP leaders and pro-BJP journalists in Karnataka, said top intelligence sources. “This is a new module of a section of educated Muslim youth being radicalised by their handlers in Saudi Arabia... We suspect that one middle-aged medical doctor from Hubli, Dr Zakir M, who migrated to Saudi Arabia five to six years ago, is the alleged mastermind of the conspiracy,” said a top intelligence officer.
“They have a sophisticated, technical modus operandi to fox the police,” said an official source, who added that Siddique is “mentally very tough”.