GUWAHATI, Sept 16 - Banned militant outfit Hizbul Mujahideen has managed to create a network of sleeper cells in Assam for which it had already started pumping sizeable amount of money, Assam Police sources claimed, adding that a Special Investigation Team has already been constituted in this connection.
Sources divulged that bank accounts of a number of suspects that has come to the fore during the investigation would be examined from tomorrow by the team of investigators and more operatives could fall in the net soon.
Based on the information received by Kanpur police, a team of investigators of Assam Police is trying to unearth the money trail and the beneficiaries in question. An Assam Police team is already camping in Kanpur. The entire chain of investigation is being supervised by Hojai Superintendent of Police Ankur Jain.
When contacted, Jain said, �the entire investigation is going in a right direction and the police is trying to work on the leads to break the entire network. It is obvious that more people are involved.�
Meanwhile, Qamar-u-Zaman, who was arrested by Kanpur police, during questioning revealed that he had transferred money to the bank accounts of several individuals including Umar Faruk, who was arrested by the investigators last night.
�Zaman was the one entrusted with the responsibility to create a strong base for the separatist group in Assam,� police sources said, quoting intelligence inputs.
�We are still not sure about the size of the network the group was able to create. The SIT is working closely with the Hojai police,� the sources said.
Assam Police has so far arrested three persons for their alleged links with the Hizbul Mujahideen during the last 48 hours. The arrests followed in quick successions after the anti terrorism squad of Kanpur police arrested Qamar-u-Zaman, a hardcore terrorist, who hails from Hojai district.
While Police arrested one Sahidul Alom from Hojai on Friday, it was followed by the arrest of Umar Faruk from Byrnihaat last evening.
Earlier, police had arrested Shahnawaz, who according to police was maintaining close links with Qamar-u-Zaman.
Police sources claimed that the arrested accused seemed to have maintained direct links with Qamar-u-Zaman.
