Delhi Police arrest alleged operative of banned SIMI from Maharashtra

Hanif Sheikh was the editor of SIMI magazine’s Urdu version and arranged meetings in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka, and Kerala

A 47-year-old alleged member of the banned outfit Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) was arrested on Thursday by the Delhi Police Special Cell in Maharashtra, where he was working as a teacher in a government school, police officers said on Sunday.

A team of the Special Cell recently learned that Hanif Sheikh had changed his identity to Mohammed Hanif and was working as a teacher in an Urdu school in Maharashtra’s Bhusawal. (Representational image)

Deputy commissioner of police (Special Cell) Alok Kumar said that the accused, Hanif Sheikh alias Mohammed Hanif alias Haneed Hudai, of Jalgaon in Maharashtra, had been evading arrest for the past 22 years after he was declared a proclaimed offender in 2002 in a case reported in 2001 under sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and sedition.

Sheikh was the editor of SIMI magazine’s Urdu version. “He played an important part in all the events like attending and arranging meetings of SIMI in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka, and Kerala. Every time the security agencies cracked down on the organisation, Sheikh managed to evade authorities,” said a senior police officer.

A team of the Special Cell recently learned that Sheikh had changed his identity to Mohammed Hanif and was working as a teacher in an Urdu school in Maharashtra’s Bhusawal. “A team was stationed there and they tracked him down. A raiding party was formed and a trap was laid near Asha Tower in Bhusawal. At 2.50pm on February 22, a person coming from Mohmadin Nagar to Khadka Road was identified as Sheikh. Sheikh sensed the presence of police and attempted to escape, but he was nabbed after a scuffle,” said DCP Kumar.

SIMI was banned in 2001 shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attack in the United States. On September 27 that year, SIMI members were addressing a press conference near their headquarters in Delhi’s Jamia Nagar when the police conducted a raid and arrested many of them. “But many SIMI members fled from the scene and absconded. Sheikh was one of them. He kept changing his identity and moving places. Incriminating material and provocative literature in the form of SIMI magazines, audio, videos in floppies, SIMI posters, computers, and photo albums were recovered from the SIMI headquarters,” an officer said.

According to police, Sheikh earned his diploma in education from Marul Jalgaon in 1997. He joined SIMI in 1997 and became a full-time worker. “He became highly radicalised after coming in contact with SIMI activists. After joining SIMI, Sheikh started radicalising Muslim youths to join the outfit,” Kumar said, adding that he was made the editor of the magazine in 2001 after which he wrote many “provocative articles by falsely highlighting atrocities on Muslims in India”.