Patna, Nov. 17: Two suspected Simi activists were arrested for their alleged involvement in the October 27 blasts on a day the National Investigation Agency announced rewards for information on five absconding Indian Mujahideen operatives.

Umar Siddiqui and Abdul Wahid Khan, were arrested from Raipur in Chhattisgarh on Saturday. Siddiqui, who runs a coaching institute in Raipur, is alleged to have links with the Patna blasts accused. Khan is stated to be an auto-rickshaw driver.

Sources said a NIA team raided Pandri and Raja Talab localities of Raipur and arrested the two. They have been booked under relevant sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967.

Another suspect, Azizullah, was taken into custody. “The NIA team was sent to Chhattisgarh on a tip-off that five elusive Patna blast accused were hiding there,” an investigating officer said.

The officer said Siddiqui’s ties with the alleged IM operatives were established on recovery of several pieces of evidence during the search of a private lodge in Ranchi recently, on the basis of information given by Imtiyaz Ansari. Ansari was arrested from Patna Junction after a bomb went off there on October 27, hours before BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was to address the Hunkar Rally at Gandhi Maidan.

On Sunday, the NIA announced rewards for information on five absconding Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives in connection with the Patna and Bodhgaya blasts.

Six persons were killed and over 80 others injured in the blasts at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan on October 27. Earlier, on July 7, two Buddhist monks were injured in the blasts at Mahabodhi Mahavihara in Bodhgaya.

The NIA, which is probing the two blasts, announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh each for information about Tahseen Akhtar alias Monu and Hyder Ali alias Asadullah, residents of Samastipur and Aurangabad districts of the state respectively. It also announced rewards of Rs 5 lakh each on Numan Ansari, Taufeeq Ansari and Mojibullah of Jharkhand. While Numan and Taufeeq hail from Sithio village under the jurisdiction of Dhurwa police station, Mojibullah is a native of Chakla village under the jurisdiction of Ormanjhi police station in Ranchi district.

NIA sources said photographs and details of the fugitive IM operatives have been uploaded on their website. The identity of those giving information about the alleged militants would not be disclosed.

It announced the reward as it failed to arrest the five suspects, who are believed to have sneaked into Nepal. The four fugitives — Tahseen, Hyder, Numan and Taufeeq — were named in the FIR lodged with the NIA police station in connection with the Patna blasts.