Gujarat Police arrests former SIMI chief from UP’s Azamgarh

Azamgarh: A team of Gujarat police has arrested Shahid Badra, the former national president of banned students’ outfit Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), from his residence in the district here in connection with a case of public order disruption.

The team had travelled to Azamgarh and arrested Badra on late Thursday night.

“We have arrested Shahid Badra, former president of Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), on an arrest warrant issued by a Gujarat court,” Superintendent of Police (SP) Pankaj Pandey said on Friday.

According to the police, a Gujarat court in Bhuj had issued a non-bailable warrant against Badra back in the year 2012.

He will be presented before a court today.

“There are several other cases registered against Badra and many of these cases are under trial,” Pandey said.

Earlier this year, the government had extended the ban on the outfit for another five years for indulging in “subversive activities”.

SIMI activists and their known associates have been tried and convicted for a range of criminal activities like the killing of police officials, bomb blasts, jailbreaks, harbouring terrorists, etc. The group, founded in Aligarh in 1977, was first banned in 2001 and has been outlawed several times since, the last time being February 2014.