Bhubaneswar, Feb. 23: Surveillance on Najma Bibi, the 60-year-old mother of Seikh Mehboob, had led police to the four SIMI activists, who were arrested from their rented accommodation in Rourkela.

On February 17, Odisha and Telangana police arrested the 27-year-old Mehboob, along with his associates, Mohammad Salik, 33, Zakir Hussain, 32, and Amjad Khan, 27, in connection with a string of crimes, including murder, robbery and conspiracy to wage war against the country.

The police said intelligence agencies of several states, including Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh, were tracking the movement of Najma, whom the state crime branch's Special Task Force is grilling now.

"The SIMI members told us that they rarely used the same number and the same mobile phone twice. Though the four male members of the group were changing their hideouts frequently, a close surveillance on Najma led to their arrest," said a senior police official.

In another development, the police today interrogated Muna Khan and Haji, owners of the two houses rented by the SIMI members in Rourkela and at Nanga Mohalla in Bhadrak. The arrested activists admitted that they had stayed in Bhadrak on rent for eight months before moving to Rourkela where they had stayed for four months.

However, police investigation have so far not revealed anything to suggest that they had plans to launch any terror attack in the state. "They confessed that they only used Odisha as a safe hideout. Apart from a bank robbery in Sundargarh and lifting of motorcycles, the group denied involvement in any other crimes in the state. Investigation to ascertain their claims is on," said a senior police official.

The police said all the five accused except Najma were involved in the three cases being investigated by the NIA and each of them carries a reward of Rs 10 lakh on their heads. The cops said that between 2014 and 2015, the SIMI operatives had visited 14 states, including Assam, Telangana, Karnataka and Kerla. Various investigating agencies have so far traced 18 hideouts of the group.

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The CBI today summoned Chandrasekhar Lenka, brother of Subhransu Lenka, the chief of deposit collection firm, Astha International, in connection with the multi-crore money laundering scam.