Alleged Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) operative Saquib Abdul Hamid Nachan died in Delhi on Saturday after suffering a brain haemorrhage, an official said.
Hindustan Times had on Thursday reported that Nachan, who was convicted for his role in the 2002-03 Mumbai blasts, was on ventilator support after suffering a brain stroke earlier this week.
Tihar jail authorities admitted him to the Deendayal Upadhyay Hospital in Delhi on Monday, following which his family members were informed. After the ISIS leader's health deteriorated on Wednesday morning, he was shifted to the Safdarjung Hospital, his lawyer Samsher Ansari said.
Doctors, according to news agency PTI, said that his condition worsened on Saturday, adding that he died at 12:10 pm. His body will be handed over to his family after postmortem examination. The official said that Nachan's last rites will take place on Sunday at Borivali village near Maharashtra's Padgha.
The 67-year-old alleged head of the Islamic State outfit's India unit was lodged in Tihar jail after being arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on December 9, 2023.
Nachan, along with 15 other alleged ISIS members, were arrested from Padgha when the federal probe agency carried out searches in the region as part of its nationwide crackdown on the terror outfit.
{{/usCountry}}Nachan, along with 15 other alleged ISIS members, were arrested from Padgha when the federal probe agency carried out searches in the region as part of its nationwide crackdown on the terror outfit.
{{/usCountry}}Nachan's lawyer also said that he had previously suffered two brain strokes, in 2021 and 2023. The second stroke had occurred shortly before his arrest by the NIA.
In 2016, Saquib Nachan, an alleged former office-bearer of the proscribed Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) was convicted for his role in a series of bomb blasts in Mumbai in 2002-03.
As per the NIA, Nachan and the other accused, who were held from Padgha in 2023, were operating on the directives of their foreign handlers. They were involved in several terrorist activities, including the fabrication of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) aimed at furthering ISIS' agenda.
Nachan and the operatives had declared the Padgha village as a "liberated zone", motivating impressionable Muslim youth to relocate to the village.
NIA said that Nachan was the self-declared leader of the arrested group and had assumed the rights of administration 'bayath' (oath of allegiance to the Khalifa of ISIS) to people joining the terror outfit.