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– Photo: Amar Ujala
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Special Cell of Delhi Police has arrested Hanif Shaikh (47), a thinktank and active member of the banned organization SIMI, after 22 years. The accused was teaching in an Urdu school in disguise in Maharashtra. He was wanted in the UAPA and sedition case registered in New Friends Colony police station in 2001. The court had declared him a fugitive. Hanif was the editor of SIMI magazine Islamic Movement (Urdu edition). The accused taught youth about radicalization over a period of 25 years. He has also been involved in other UAP Act cases and other anti-national activities in Maharashtra.
According to Alok Kumar, Deputy Commissioner of Police of Special Cell, under the supervision of ACP Vedprakash, the team of Inspector Pawan Kumar and SI Sumit was finding out about the absconding SIMI members including Hanif Sheikh and other members. Inspector Pawan’s team, along with Inspector Karamveer, was collecting information about absconding SIMI cadres, their supporters and sleeper cells in many states. The team collected information by visiting different parts of the country, especially Delhi/NCR, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
During investigation, Inspector Pawan got information about Hanif Shaikh that Hanif Hudai had changed his identity to Mohammad. Hanif is now working as a teacher in an Urdu school in Bhusaval, Maharashtra. The police team laid siege near Asha Tower, Khadka Road, Bhusaval Maharashtra and arrested the accused who was coming from Mohammaddin Nagar towards Khadka Road on 22 February. A Delhi court had declared Hanif Shaikh a fugitive in 2002. The accused had played an important role in all the incidents like participating and organizing the meetings of SIMI organization in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. He often managed to dodge the police.
what is simi
Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) was formed in 1976 in Aligarh, UP. The idea of this organization is to establish Dar-ul-Islam (Land of Islam). Jihad and martyrdom were the basic slogans of SIMI. SIMI was banned by the government due to the involvement of SIMI activists in various anti-national activities.
