MP: 5 SIMI activists arrested

Five activists of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India were arrested on Tuesday from Chanchoda town in Madhya Pradesh, police said.

They were detained by the police on Monday from a hideout. However, four of their associates managed to escape from the spot.

The five activists, identified as Ubeid Shah (25), Abdul Mubeen (28), Farid Khan (31), Mohammad Zaheer (22) and Abdul Qadir (18), have accepted their links with the banned organisation since 1999, Chanchoda police station in-charge L K Shrivas told reporters. He added that the arrested accused have also confessed to contributing money for carrying out activities of the organisation.

The police have recovered literature associated with SIMI, which was published from Ujjain, news reports about the organisation published in two newspapers, an identity card of a Narsinghgarh-based person identified as Sibbi Asgar and a cellphone having details of persons associated with SIMI, Shrivas said.

They were arrested on charge of indulging in unlawful activities and would be produced in court today for remand.

The arrested workers also admitted about being arrested in 2001 for taking part in SIMI activities. In Neemuch district, another suspected SIMI activist was arrested by the police after conducting raids at four places.

Further investigations were on to find out whether he was associated with the banned outfit or not.