Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI)

The Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), proscribed under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, is an Islamist fundamentalist organization, which advocates the ‘liberation of India’ by converting it to an Islamic land. The SIMI, an organisation of young extremist students has declared Jihad against India, the aim of which is to establish Dar-ul-Islam (land of Islam) by either forcefully converting everyone to Islam or by violence.

Formation

The SIMI was formed at Aligarh in the State of Uttar Pradesh on April 25, 1977. Mohammad Ahmadullah Siddiqi, Professor of Journalism and Public Relations at the Western Illinois University Macomb, Illinois, was the founding President of the outfit. It originally emerged as a student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH). The alliance, however, lasted only till 1981, when SIMI activists protested against Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) leader Yasser Arafat's visit to India, and greeted him with black flags in New Delhi. Young SIMI activists identified Arafat as a western puppet, while the senior JIH leaders saw Arafat as a champion of the cause of Palestine. JIH decided to abandon SIMI and floated a new student wing, the Students Islamic Organization (SIO).

Objectives and Ideology

• Governing of human life on the basis of the Holy Quran

• Propagation of Islam

• Jehad for the cause of Islam

SIMI also attempts to utilize the youth in the propagation of Islam and also to mobilize support for Jihad and establish a Shariat-based Islamic rule through "Islami Inqulab". As the organization does not believe in a nation-state, it does not believe in the Indian Constitution or the secular order. SIMI also regards idol worship as a sin and considers it to be a holy duty to terminate idol worship.

SIMI is widely believed to be against Hinduism, western beliefs and ideals, as well as other ‘anti-Islamic cultures’. Among its various objectives, the SIMI aims to counter what it believes is the increasing moral degeneration, sexual anarchy in the Indian society as also the ‘insensitiveness’ of a ‘decadent’ west. Ideologically, SIMI maintains that the concepts of secularism, democracy and nationalism, keystones of the Indian Constitution, are antithetical to Islam. Parallel to its rejection of secularism, democracy and nationalism is its oft-repeated objective of restoration of the 'khilafat', emphasis on 'ummah' (Muslim brotherhood), and the need for a Jehad to establish the supremacy of Islam.

The outfit is known to have adopted an extremist and militant posture on various issues of concern to the Muslim community.

According to the SIMI, Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden is an outstanding example of a true Mujahid, who has undertaken Jihad on behalf of the 'ummah'.

SIMI's interpretation of Islam is influenced to a great extent by the writings of Syed Abul A'ala Maududi, founder of the Jamaat-e Islami.

According to the scholar Yoginder Sikand, Nationalism, for SIMI, is seen as a false idol, and one devised by the non-Muslim 'enemies of the faith' to divide the Muslims and thereby weaken them. All non-Muslims are branded by the SIMI as 'kafirs', and no distinction is made among them. Because the 'enemies of God' are expected to show stiff resistance to Islam, violent Jihad is to be waged.

Leadership

Dr Shahid Badar Falah functioned as the national president and Safdar Nagori as the general secretary till the organization was proscribed under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002. The Delhi Police arrested Falah on September 28, 2001, from its office in the Zakir Nagar area of Delhi and he has subsequently been charged with sedition and inciting communal disharmony in the State of Uttar Pradesh.

Similarly, on March 27, 2008, SIMI general secretary Safdar Nagori, absconding since September 27, 2001, was arrested along with 12 other cadres of the outfit from Indore in Madhya Pradesh. Among the arrested was Safdar's brother Kamruddin Nagori. Safdar Nagori has been named in a First Information Report (FIR) under Section 3 of the Unlawful Activities Act, registered at the New Friends Colony Police station in South Delhi. He is alleged to have established links with the operatives of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan’s external intelligence agency, and other Islamist fundamentalist leaders in a bid to revive SIMI cadres under the umbrella of a different outfit.

Mohammad Aamir, the chief of SIMI's Uttar Pradesh (UP) State unit and the prime accused in the Kanpur riots of March 16, surrendered before a metropolitan magistrate on April 25, 2006.

Another top SIMI leader Abul Bashar Qasmi, who had taken over the control of the outfit after Safdar Nagori's arrest, was arrested on August 16, 2008 from a village in Azamgarh in UP by a joint team of the UP and Gujarat Police. Qasmi allegedly was the mastermind behind the July 26, 2008 Ahmedabad (Gujarat) serial bomb blasts,

Linkages and Areas of Operation

SIMI reportedly secures generous financial assistance from the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), Riyadh, and also maintains close links with the International Islamic Federation of Students' Organizations (IIFSO) in Kuwait. It also receives generous funds from contacts in Pakistan.

The Chicago-based Consultative Committee of Indian Muslims is also reported to have supported SIMI morally and financially.

The SIMI has links with the Jamaat-e-Islam (JeI) units in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. It also has a close working relationship with the Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS), the students’ wing of the JeI in Bangladesh. The SIMI is also alleged to have close links with the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), and the ISI.

Beginning the autumn of 2000, SIMI cadres were known to have undergone training with the HM cadres in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). At least three Jalgaon (in Maharashtra) residents — Sheikh Asif Supdu, Sheikh Khalid Iqbal and Sheikh Mohammad Hanif — are believed to have died in shootouts with Indian troops near Kishtwar in J&K.

Certain SIMI leaders are reported to have close links with Pakistan-based terrorist groups such as the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed. SIMI activists, over the years, have also become a vital part of the LeT's grand plans for destabilisation in India.

SIMI also maintains ties with the Harkat-ul-Jehad-al Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B).

SIMI is also reportedly involved in a continuous recruitment drive for the HuJI-B in Uttar Pradesh's Jaunpur, Allahabad, Kanpur, Lucknow, Ambedkar Nagar, Aligarh, Azamgarh, Sonauli, Ferozabad and Hathras areas. Further, SIMI cadres, sources indicate, are involved in the safe transportation of explosives and creation of channels for funds and securing safe houses for the HuJI-B cadres.

Groups of SIMI sympathizers reportedly exist in several places in the Gulf States. Jamayyatul Ansar, an organisation of SIMI activists comprising expatriate Indian Muslims, reportedly operates in Saudi Arabia.

Several Islamist fundamentalist organisations in India are allegedly controlled by former SIMI cadres. Prominent among them are the Kerala-based National Democratic Front and Islamic Youth Centre (IYC), and the Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam (TMMK) in Tamil Nadu.

According to official sources, in the year 1993 following the arrest of a Sikh terrorist, it was revealed that SIMI cadres, Sikh and Kashmiri terrorists, had been brought together by the ISI through the Jamaat-e-Islami in Pakistan to carry out subversive activities.

The outfit is currently regarded as having a national presence with strong bases in the States of Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, Maharashtra (Aurangabad, Malegaon, Jalgaon and Thane), Andhra Pradesh and Assam. It reportedly has a strong base in various universities in these States. SIMI is also believed to enjoy the support of a large section of the Muslim populace in cities such as Kanpur, Rampur, Moradabad, Saharanpur, Lucknow and Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh. Official sources are reported to have identified nine districts in Uttar Pradesh, where the SIMI is suspected of engaging in subversive activities-Lucknow, Kanpur, Aligarh, Agra, Faizabad, Bahraich, Barabanki, Lakhimpur Kheri and Azamgarh. The SIMI is also being utilised by various terrorist outfits because it has a well-knit network in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.

In Kerala, SIMI operates under the cover of some 12 front organisations, at least two of which are based in the capital, Thiruvananthapuram, and a third in the port city of Kochi. Kondotty in the Malappuram District has also emerged as a hot-bed of SIMI activities. An official declaration submitted on June 1, 2006, by the Kerala Government before the tribunal examining the legality of the ban on SIMI, indicated that the outfit's cadres had ‘lately' developed links with the LeT. Reports from various agencies, including the State Police Special Branch, further indicate that SIMI is operating under the cover of religious study centres, rural development and research centres. Some of these front organisations were spreading "extremist religious ideals" among sections of youth in Kerala by acting under the guise of "counselling and guidance centres working for behavioural change". SIMI is also reported to have established a women's wing in Kerala. Generous funds for such activities flow in from contacts in Kuwait and Pakistan.

In the western State of Maharashtra, areas such as Aurangabad, Malegaon, Jalgaon and Thane have remained strongholds of the SIMI. Intelligence agencies indicate that Madrassas (seminaries) in the Districts of Jalgaon, Nashik, Thane, Sholapur, Kolhapur, Gadchiroli, Nanded, Aurangabad, Malegaon and Pune have been brought under the scanner for SIMI activities. There are more than 3,000 Madrassas in the State, with about 200,000 students. As many as 500 seminaries are located in the State capital, Mumbai. Sources indicate that many of these seminaries are potential breeding grounds for SIMI's activities.

SIMI's activities have also continued in Assam and West Bengal, where the organisation has infiltrated Madrassas, Muslim clubs, libraries, and other cultural bodies for covert mobilisation of Islamist forces. In 2003, SIMI activists have operated from the platform of ‘Islamic Siksha Shivirs' (Islamic Educational Camps) in Mograhat in the North 24 Parganas district in West Bengal. A two-day ‘workshop' organised in the District between August 31 and September 1 had, in fact, finalised the outfit's infiltration plans. Sources indicate that in August 2003, one Jamaluddin Chaudhory of the ICS had taken seven SIMI activists from Assam and West Bengal to residential Madrassas in Chittagong, Rangpur and Dhaka for ‘higher Islamic studies'. Additionally, some hardcore SIMI activists from Malda and South 24 Parganas had crossed over to Bangladesh for higher studies in Islamic theology at a Saudi-funded private institution in Chittagong. In the 2004 general elections, SIMI had backed the newly floated ‘Indian National League (INL)', which put up candidates in six constituencies of Jangipur, Murshidabad, Diamond Harbour, Basirhat, Jadavpur and Kolkata North-West. Senior SIMI leader Hasan Saidullah Ashrafi contested the Basirhat seat from the INL platform and finished seventh among eight candidates polling just 4,780 valid votes.

In the State of Madhya Pradesh, “While SIMI activities were confined to Indore, Ujjain, Khandwa and Bhopal before the ban on it in 2001, they have spread to Burhanpur, Guna, Neemuch and Shajapur as well now,” an unnamed police official was quoted as saying in Hindustan Times on August 16, 2006. Before the ban, 33 cases were registered against SIMI activists in various districts for spreading religious discord. Since then, however, 49 cases have been filed against the group. SIMI national general secretary Safdar Nagori, an Ujjain resident in his 40s, has been absconding since the ban. “He has cases against him of spreading religious discord since 1997-98,” Ajay Kumar Sharma, a Deputy Inspector General of Police, said. Since the ban, 180 SIMI activists have been arrested from across the State. And since April 2006, five SIMI members, including two women, have been taken into custody in Khandwa, four in Burhanpur and one each in Jabalpur and Ujjain.

Membership, Influence and Activities

Opposed to democracy, secularism and nationalism, SIMI has been advocating among its followers - some 400 ansars (full-time cadres) and the 20,000 ordinary members - the need to oppose "man-made" institutions and work for the Ummah.

Students up to the age of 30 years are eligible to be its members and after completing this age-limit they retire from the organization.

SIMI cadres consider Osama bin Laden as a ‘true believer of Islam’ and regard him as an epitome of ‘Islamic Hero’. According to Safdar Nagori, a prominent SIMI leader, bin Laden is "not a terrorist" and neither is Jammu and Kashmir an "integral part of India." At its congregations, messages and recorded speeches have been relayed from the Palestinian Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yasin and Qazi Hussein Ahmed, chief of the Jamaat-e-Islami in Pakistan.

Official sources have indicated that the SIMI has established links with terrorist outfits and is also supporting extremism/militancy in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere. The outfit is reported to have published objectionable posters and literature, which are intended to incite communal feelings and which question the territorial integrity of India.

Shaheen Force, the outfit’s wing for schoolchildren, seeks to "protect the children from present-day misguidance and vices" and keeps them "under the shade of Islamic culture". The outfit also has a wing that aims to channelise the talent of girls for the Islamist cause.

SIMI reportedly operates many special programmes for students of Arabic colleges and Islamic universities. Students receive training and other assistance in the study of languages and Islamic sciences. According to the SIMI, renaissance of the Ummah depends on Islamic scholars because the community can attain its glory only when it will be led and guided by sincere Ulema (scholars).

According to the SIMI, Israelis were responsible for the 9/11 attacks in New York. According to a press release issued by its secretary-general Safdar Nagori after 9/11, "there are strong reasons to believe that the recent attacks may be a conspiracy of the Zionist Israel, which is rapidly losing world support because of its inhuman and terrorist activities in Palestine."

Publications

SIMI publishes several magazines in various languages, including Vivekam in Malayalam, Sedhi Madal in Tamil, Rupantar in Bengali, Iqraa in Gujarati, Tahreek in Hindi, Al Harkah in Urdu and the Shaheen Times.

Incidents

2012

• January 19: Investigators probing the IM Bihar module, part of which was busted by the special team of Delhi Police in 2011, has found that the chief of IM operations in India, Yasin, had been making frequent trips to several areas of Bihar towards the beginning of this decade for recruitment to the terror cause.

  Sources have also confirmed that at least two members of the present module were present near L-11, Batla House, the encounter site on September 13, 2008, though till then they had no knowledge of the exact role played by the Azamgarh module. "We believe that these men were not part of any bombings prior to 2010, but we have evidence which suggest that they assembled as early as December 2008 and decided to take forward the IM agenda,'' said a source.

  Investigators had believed that the Bihar module had only become active after the Azamgarh (Uttar Pradesh) module, operating under Atif Ameen, was busted in the Batla House encounter in September 2008.

  Counter-terrorism agencies have narrowed down on the terror-financing module that is operating out of New Delhi, and is believed to have aided IM operatives in executing the July 13 triple blasts in Mumbai and the Delhi blast.

  Police officials revealed that during their stay at Habib Mansion, right behind the Byculla Police Station, IM operative Yasin Bhatkal and Pakistanis Tabrez and Bakas had reconnoitered several vital installations in the city.

• January 16: three men who planned and executed serial blasts in Mumbai and Delhi High Court blast in 2011, were holed up in an apartment in Byculla, not more than 15 minutes' walk from the Anti-Terrorist Squad's Nagpada headquarters, till just a few weeks ago.

• January 15: IM militants Salman alias Chotu and Shahzad Ahmed alias Pappu have allegedly confessed to the Bangalore Police that they had got explosives for the 2008 Delhi serial blasts from Udupi, a coastal town in Karnataka.

  In their confessional statement, they allegedly told the Bangalore anti-terrorism cell that their associates Mohammed Saif (now in jail) and Khalid (absconding) went to Udupi on August 31, 2008, and brought the explosives to Delhi on September 3, 2008. The Delhi blasts took place on September1 3, 2008.

• January 6: There is fresh input that the IM in alliance with the ISI, is likely to carry out attacks like 13/7 in Mumbai. BARC, DRDO organizations, defence establishments like Mazgoan dock, naval dockyard, ONGC at Uran plant, economic institutions, aviation sector, oil and power sectors etc are vulnerable, the inputs states.

  As opposed to 18 people, a majority of whom belonged to banned outfits were arrested in 2010, 25 full-blown terrorists were arrested in 2011. A special team of Delhi Police scanned the length and breadth of the country to bring the IM to its knees in a blitzkrieg operation.

• January 2: Four IM operatives recently arrested by Delhi Police have reportedly confessed that three of them were involved in planting bombs at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore during an IPL match in 2010. An unnamed senior Police official of the anti-terrorist cell said Mohammed Qateel Siddiqui (27), Ghayur Ahmed Jamali (21) and Aftab Alam Farooq (27) planted bombs on April 18, 2010.

  Investigators have said that the IM module led by Yasin Bhatkal may have also been involved in the serial blasts in Mumbai on July 13, 2011. Mohammed Ahmed Sidibapa alias Yasin Bhatkal alias Shahrukh, who led the IM module, may have been in Mumbai during the blasts, investigators believe.

  As reported earlier, in a nationwide investigation, Police Forces, supported by intelligence agencies, had arrested seven IM members. Yasin managed to escape.

  The Ahmadabad city crime branch officials believe that Habib Phalai alias Taiyab, arrested in Uttar Pradesh on December 28 in the Ahmadabad serial blasts case, may be connected to the other accused from Azamgarh involved in various serial blasts across India.

2011

• December 28: The UP ATS in coordination with Ahmadabad Crime branch team arrested an alleged SIMI operative wanted in 2008 Ahmadabad blast case.

• December 25: Ahmad Siddi Bappa alias Yasin Bhatkal alias Shahrukh, is recruiting youths for IM, motivating them on religious grounds and also cash incentives, according to a report.

• December 21 :December Government gave its sanction to the NIA to charge sheet nine persons, including two serving ISI officers, Major Iqbal and Major Samir Ali, Pakistani-American LeT operative David Coleman Headley, LeT founder Hafiz Saeed, al Qaida operative Ilyas Kashmiri, for plotting terror strikes in India, including the 26/11 Mumbai attack.

  Delhi Police told a Delhi court that six of the seven IM operatives arrested in November have confessed about their involvement in the September 2010 blast near Jama Masjid. The police made this submission to Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vinod Yadav while seeking extension of their custody for further interrogation to gather evidence of their involvement in the blast.

• December 20: the Centre said a terror module busted in Delhi recently had links with Pakistan-based terrorist group LeT. This IM module was suspected to be involved in February 13, 2010 Pune German bakery blast (in Maharashtra), blast in Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore (in Karnataka) on April 17, 2010 and shoot out at the Jama Masjid (New Delhi) on September 19, 2010.

  Union Minister of State for Home Jitendra Singh said, "factory manufacturing arms and ammunition being run by the IM in New Delhi was unearthed recently". However, he did not specify the details about where the factory was located in the national capital.

  The Centre said a terror module busted in Delhi recently had links with the LeT.

• December 18: Police have intensified the hunt for IM sleeper cells in Tumkur District of Karnataka after revelations of the arrested IM operatives in Delhi (Mohammed Qateel Siddiqi, Gayur Ahmed Jamali and Farooq) that those involved in the April 17, 2010 Chinnaswamy Stadium blasts in Bangaluru had taken shelter in Tumkur. Police sources in addition said that IM had executed the terror attack with the help of locals and students.

• December 15: A Delhi Court extended the Police custody of seven suspected IM militants who have been arrested for their alleged role in blasts across the country by six days. The seven arrested accused are Mohammed Qatil Siddqui, Gohar Aziz Khumani, Mohammed Adil, Abdur Rehman, Mohammed Irshad, Gayur Ahmed Jamali and Aftab Alam.

• December 14: It has also been revealed that chief of IM, Siddi Bappa alias Shahrukh, had instructed all module members to use different SIM cards for calling each other and he himself carried several phones with different connections.

• December 9: Unearthing more anti-national links by the SIMI operatives, the NIA has zeroed in on the plans by an accused in the Vagamon SIMI camp case with other anti-national activities. Danish Riyaz, an operative of the IM and SIMI operative who is also the 34th accused in the Vagamon SIMI camp case, has been involved in a conspiracy to attack the judges of the Allahabad High Court who pronounced the verdict in the Ayodhya case.

  Interrogation of six suspected IM operatives, arrested recently for their alleged role in various terror attacks across India, reveals that Pune's [Maharashtra] famous Dagdusheth Halwai was also on their radar. It is also revealed that the agenda of the refurbished Indian Mujahideen is targetting religious places, voicing the concerns of Pakistan and large-scale destruction.

• December 8: investigating agencies have learnt from the arrested IM militants that the terrorists had been converting the Udupi town, so far known for its religious places, into a hub of explosives manufacture.

  A Delhi court remanded suspected IM operative, Aftab Alam alias Farooq, a Pakistai, arrested from Bihar on December 6 for his alleged role in various blasts across the country, to seven days' police custody. The police sought his custody, saying he needs to be thoroughly interrogated to track his terror network and arrest his other accomplices.

• December 5: IB personnel and Bihar Police arrested a suspected IM terrorist of the module led by Yasin Bhatkal alias Ahmed Siddi Bappa alias Imran from Purnia in Bihar. Radicalised in Salafi mosques of north Bihar, Farooq along with Bhatkal, Mohammed Qateel Siddiqui and Gayur Ahmad Jamal were the four persons directly involved in 2010 Chinnaswamy stadium bombing in Bangalore. While Farooq and Bhatkal planned the bombing in Tumkur in Karnataka, Siddiqui and Jamal joined them from Delhi and Bihar via Mumbai to strike on the cricket ground.

  Delhi Police sources are saying that there are at least four more modules each armed with a plan to wreak havoc in an Indian metro.

  Delhi Police produced all six suspected IM cadres - Mohammed Qateel Siddiqui, Gauhar Aziz Khomani, Gayur Ahmed Jamali, Mohammed Adil alias Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, and Mohammed Irshad Khan - in court, from where they were remanded to 10 more days' Police custody.

• December 1: A project, codenamed 'Karachi Project', undertaken by the Pakistani spy agency, ISI to spread terror in India using local recruits through LeT network will soon find its place in the charge sheet to be filed by the NIA against American-Pakistani terrorist David Coleman Headley and his accomplices, including Pakistani serving and retired Army officials, in the Mumbai terror attack case (November 26, 2008, aka 26/11).

• November 30: Delhi Police investigators announced the neutralization of a terrorist cell that they claimed was responsible for a string of nationwide attacks in the year 2010.

• July 22: Indian security agencies believe that the mastermind of the recent Mumbai blast (July 13, 2011), Abdullah Khan of the IM is hiding in Bangladesh.

• July 18: Investigations into the Mumbai serial blasts (July 13, 2011) were focusing heavily on suspects in Gujarat, with the Maharashtra ATS reportedly getting major leads pointing to the involvement of the IM.

• July 16: On being alerted by the Intelligence Bureau, the Bihar Police conducted raids at Barchaundhi village under Mahuakhali Police station in Kisanganj District and arrested a suspected cadre of the militant outfit HuJI Times of India, however, reported that the two arrestees had links with SIMI.

• July 5: NIA is exploring the possibility of taking over investigations into the murder of two college students in Karnataka (between June 8-12) following the alleged involvement of members of an organisation known as the Karnataka Forum for Dignity (KFD), considered to be a new front of the SIMI, in the crime.

• June 25: Madhya Pradesh Police arrested a former cadre of the SIMI at the Cochin International Airport in Kochi town of Kerala.

• June 13: Police arrested 10 cadres of the banned SIMI from a house in Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh.

• June 8: According to highly placed sources in the Indian intelligence agencies, the SIMI and the CPI-Maoist have recently conducted a secret meeting in Kottayam District of Kerala.

• June 5: The Madhya Pradesh ATS arrested eight suspected militants belonging to the Indian Mujahideen (IM) and the banned outfit SIMI in Bhopal.

• February 25: A local court in Mumbai granted four days' transit remand to Mohammed Asad Siddiqui, a SIMI cadre and an accused in the August 14, 2000 Kanpur blast case, arrested in a joint operation by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and Uttar Pradesh ATS in Mumbai. "He is one of the nine accused in the Kanpur blast. One Kashmiri accused is under arrest, another died in an encounter a few years ago. Siddiqui was around 15 when he committed the crime. He has been on the run since then. There was an award of Rs. 15,000 declared on him. The court granted his transit custody till March 2," said an Uttar Pradesh ATS official. He said that Siddiqui was staying under an assumed name in the Nalasopara area of Mumbai and ran a web-designing shop. "He is an active member of SIMI," the official said.

2010

• December 30: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed a chargesheet against 18 cadres of the banned outfit SIMI, in a Kerala court for allegedly conspiring to advocate, incite and abet unlawful activities for secession of Kashmir from India.

• December 14: The Centre prepared a list of 31 absconding terror suspects, including 19 from the Indian Mujahideen (IM), and asked all the States and Union Territories to locate and arrest them. The suspects at large also include 12 members of an outfit called Jam-I-yyathul Ansarul Muslimeen (JIAM), which is suspected to be a joint front of LeT and SIMI.

• December 13: Slain Mumbai Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare was on the hit list of the Islamist militant outfit Indian Mujahideen (IM).

  Cadres of banned outfit SIMI are fast regrouping under the banner of Popular Front of India (PFI), an outfit which has expanded its tentacles to north after carrying out initial recruitment in South India.

  Forensic experts probing the Varanasi blast case suggested the possibility of use of plastic explosives in the terror attack, Although the experts are yet to identify the composition of the explosive, a study of the blast site suggest the possibility of a PETN (pentaerythritol trinitrate combined with nitroglycerin) being used.

• December 8: The Mumbai Police said that it suspected that Bhatkal brothers, Riaz and Iqbal, founders of IM, masterminded the explosion in Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh on December 7. Police Commissioner Sanjeev Dayal also said that the blast was planned in Pakistan which sheltered the suspected militants.

• December 7: A powerful bomb blast in Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh killed a two-year-old girl and injured 35 others. The explosion took place at around 7pm (IST) at the Shitla Ghat (steps on the sides of the river Ganges) when ‘Ganga Aarti'(an evening religious ritual on the river side) was under way. The Indian Mujahideen (IM) reportedly claimed responsibility for the explosion.

• September 23: Investigations into the email sent by the Indian Mujahideen (IM) hours after the Jama Masjid firing incident in Delhi on September 18 have revealed that a second-hand Nokia mobile handset purchased from a shop in Dongri in south Mumbai was used to send the threat mail. However, the shopkeeper has no records of the person who bought the handset. Investigators believe that the terrorist bought a second-hand mobile to reduce the chances of getting traced.

• September 21: Mumbai Police detained two persons in connection with the bomb blast outside the Jama Masjid (Mosque) in Delhi. Also, the e-mail purportedly sent by the Indian Mujahideen outfit was traced to Borivali in Mumbai.

• September 20: Two persons have been detained by the Delhi Police Special Cell for questioning in connection with the attack on foreign nationals in the Walled City of Delhi. According to sources, the suspects were picked up from Northeast Delhi after their antecedents raised suspicion. Preliminary investigations into the attack on the Taiwanese nationals and the fire in a car parked near the area Police station indicated to the involvement of local elements. Delhi Police Commissioner Y.S. Dadwal said that the attack on foreign nationals and the subsequent low-intensity explosion in the car are being investigated from all possible angles. He also said that while separate cases have been registered in connection with the two incidents, circumstantial evidence has indicated that they are linked. The Police also plan to send teams to various parts of western Uttar Pradesh in the lookout for leads.

  Police have reportedly found that the e-mail, purportedly sent by the Indian Mujahideen outfit to an international news broadcaster a few hours after the attack, was sent from Mumbai. The authenticity of the e-mail''s contents and its source is being verified.

• September 7: A Special tribunal headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna of Delhi High Court retained the ban on the SIMI. The decision came after the tribunal’s countrywide probe into the alleged affairs of SIMI. It has been reported that five e-mails, including one threatening e-mail addressed to Times of India on August 23, 2008 by the militant outfit Indian Mujahideen (IM) regarding explosions in Gujarat, were treated as clinching evidences in the investigations

• August 4: A one-member Tribunal, headed by Delhi High Court Judge Sanjiv Khanna, confirmed the extension of the ban on the SIMI for two more years. The Union Home Ministry had extended the ban on the outfit for the same period in February. SIMI has been banned since 2001.With the confirmation of the extension of the ban, the outfit will remain banned till February 7, 2012.

• July 26: A Special Operations Group (SOG) team in Vadodra in Gujarat arrested a SIMI cadre for his involvement in three-year-old incident when a group of protestors had displayed posters of al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden in Mandvi area.

• July 21: Intelligence reports indicates that Pakistan’s ISI has renewed efforts to set up new sleeper cells in Gujarat and elsewhere in the country. For the last six months, the ISI has been trying to create new sleeper cells in the State to replace those of the SIMI that were neutralised by the Gujarat Police. Sources in the State intelligence said SIMI’s sleeper cells had provided key support to the terrorists who had carried out the bomb blasts in Ahmedabad in 2008. Though Simi is now banned, investigation into the activities of its suspected members has continued. The Detection of Crime Branch (DCB), Ahmedabad Police, recently arrested three persons suspected of planning bomb blasts in the city.

• July 19: A local court sent arrested SIMI cadre, identified as Fakraan alias Farkat alias Arshad Jamal, to Crime Branch’s custody for eight days, reports Indian Express.

• July 17-18: Ahmedabad city crime branch officials arrested a 36-year-old man identified as Farkat Jamal alias Arshad, who had allegedly supplied illegal firearm to arrested Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) cadres Hasseb Raza Saiyad, said crime branch officials. Arshad was arrested by a team of Ahmedabad city crime branch officials, in a joint operation with Bihar Police, from Chhapra District.

• July 17: Ahmedabad city crime branch officials arrested a 36-year-old man identified as Farkat Jamal alias Arshad, who had allegedly supplied illegal firearm to arrested SIMI cadres Hasseb Raza Saiyad, said crime branch officials, reports Times of India. Arshad was arrested by a team of Ahmedabad city crime branch officials, in a joint operation with Bihar Police, from Chhapra District. "We brought Arshad to Ahmedabad on Sunday [July 18]. His name had surfaced during Saiyad's questioning. Saiyad was found in possession of a country-made revolver and 17 cartridges. Arshad had supplied the weapon to him. We are probing his Guajrat footprint and connection with other SIMI members at the moment," said a senior crime branch official. According to investigators, Arshad is former state president of SIMI and was in proximity with a number of senior leaders and operatives. Earlier, officials had arrested Abu Fakir Siddiqi, 34, and Hasseb Raza Saiyad, 43, both residents of Faridabad Society, Jantanagar, Ramol, on July 11 when they were riding by on a bike.

• July 14: The Delhi Police claimed before a court that the IM had allegedly carried out September 13, 2008 serial blasts in Delhi at the instance of its founder, now Pakistan-based Amir Raza Khan. The prosecutor claimed the Police had in its possession emails records, disclosure statements of accused, besides intelligence inputs, to establish links between LeT and HuJI with SIMI and IM.

  The Judge put off its order for two weeks on the application of the Bangalore Police seeking custody of two suspected IM militants Salman and Shahzad on the ground that the matter at the court in Delhi was at a crucial stage and handing over their custody would disrupt the proceedings. Bangalore Police wanted the custody of the duo to investigate their alleged role in connection with M. Chinnaswamy Stadium blasts in April 2010.

• July 12: The Ahmedabad Police arrested two alleged cadres of the SIMI, identified as Hasibraza alias Samim Firdosarza Saiyed (34) and Abufakir Abdulwali Abuali Siddique (43), at Prem Darwaza and claimed to have recovered an air gun, a country-made revolver and live cartridges from them.

• June 24: An alleged absconding SIMI cadre identified as Khalid Naeem was arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) of Madhya Pradesh Police from Bhopal.

• June 4: The Union Government declared the Indian Mujahideen (IM), suspected to be a shadow outfit of the banned SIMI and Pakistan-based LeT, a terrorist outfit.

• February 24: The SIMI and the IM have claimed responsibility for the Pune bomb blast, Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh said.

• February 5: The Union Government has extended the ban on the SIMI for another two years, beginning on February 8. The outfit has been facing a ban since September 2001. Sources in the MHA said that the ban on SIMI will now continue till February 7, 2012.

2009

• November 28: A motorcycle-borne youth suspected to be a SIMI cadre shot dead three persons, including one ATS personnel, in the Teen Pulia area of Khandwa District of Madhya Pradesh. The assailant first shot at ATS constable Sitaram Batham in the Teen Pulia area, city SP S. K. Nashine said.

• November 3: Four cadres of the banned SIMI outfit were arrested near a graveyard in the Madra Tekri locality of Jabalpur by personnel of the Madhya Pradesh Police.  

  October 30: Seven persons were arrested from different parts of the Indore District in Madhya Pradesh over the last seven days and booked under section 188 of IPC on charges of providing shelter to five SIMI cadres, Police said. Referring to the activities of SIMI in the State, Director General of Police S. K. Rout told reporters that so far Police have arrested 13 top SIMI leaders and 63 suspected cadres of the group.

• October 20: Five SIMI cadres were arrested from Indore city in Madhya Pradesh. Two of the arrested cadres, identified as Mohammad Shafiq and Mohammad Yunus, belonged to Ujjain District, and were wanted by the Police to stand trial for serial bomb blasts in Ahmedabad (Gujarat) on July 26, 2008.

• October 6: Three SIMI cadres, including its former chief Imran Ansari, were sentenced to two-year rigorous imprisonment and fined INR 2000 each by a local court in Madhya Pradesh for spreading religious enmity. Besides Ansari, the sentence was also awarded to Afzal Abdul Rashid and Shahjad Abdul Rashid, the prosecution said.

• July 21: Two militants of the proscribed SIMI, identified as Mohammed Rafiq Abdul Rehman and Abdul Ahad, were arrested from the Vidarbha region in Maharashtra, Police said. While Abdul Rehman was arrested from Mana village in Akola District on July 19, Abdul Ahad (68) was arrested in Amaravati District in the night of July 20. Earlier, the Police had arrested three more SIMI cadres when they were on their way after attending a meeting at Mana village in Mutizapur administrative division. "During the interrogation of the arrested accused, it was revealed that they wanted to come together on one platform. That's the reason why they held a meeting in Mana village," District Superintendent of Police, Pravin Padwal said.

• July 20: The Maharashtra Police arrested four SIMI militants from Mana village in the Akola District. The cadres were arrested while trying to flee in an Indica car, before they were intercepted. After receiving an initial tip off from intelligence inputs, the Police neutralized a secret SIMI meeting, which was taking place with 35 cadres present at the meeting. However, the Police managed to arrest only four of them while the others managed to escape.

• June 12: June 12: A militant of the outlawed SIMI, Abu Bashar, who was implicated by the Gujarat Police for the July 26, 2008 Ahmedabad serial bomb blasts, is reported to have confessed about the presence of training camps in the coastal areas.

• February 27: Two suspected SIMI cadres, identified as Shibili and Hafeez Hussain, who were arrested for reportedly attending a secret training camp held by the outfit in 2007, were remanded to a 15-day judicial custody. About 40 cases were pending against the duo in various parts of the country, including in Gujarat, Indore in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Malegaon in Maharashtra. Nearly 40 SIMI cadres had participated in the camp for about three days, the Police mentioned, adding that till date, ten cadres were arrested in this connection.

• February 9: A SIMI cadre, identified as Amil Parvesh, a native of Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, who was arrested by the Kerala Police from Indore in Madhya Pradesh in connection with his suspected role in the training camp of the outfit held in the Vagamon hills, was remanded by the Kanjirapally First Class Magistrate Court in Kottayam to 15 days Police custody.

2008

• December 27: A trial court in Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh convicted nine cadres of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) to two years imprisonment and imposed a fine of INR 500 on each for promoting communal hatred. Police had arrested them in July 2006 for their alleged links with the SIMI and booked them under various sections of the India Penal Code, mostly dealing with treason.

• December 20: The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) arrested a SIMI cadre, identified as Amir Talha from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, from platform number three at Nagpur station. One .32mm pistol and five bullets were recovered from his possession. Talha is the son of Amir Rashidi Madni, who heads an ulema council in Azamgarh, and is also believed to have been arrested in connection with SIMI activities in the past. Talha, who was reportedly in close touch with the Indian Mujahideen (IM) that executed the serial blasts in New Delhi on September 13, was produced before a Nagpur court and has been remanded in Police custody till January 3, 2009.

• November 10: Gujrat Police said that the Madhya Pradesh Police have arrested the main conspirators of the July 26 Ahmedabad serial blasts, identified as Qayamuddin Kapadia, from an unspecified place in Madhya Pradesh. Qayamuddin Kapadia allegedly planted cycle bombs in the Ahmedabad as well as bombs in different parts of Surat and was also responsible for purchase of cycles on which the bombs were planted and kept in different parts of the city, said Joint Commissioner of Police of Ahmedabad city crime branch, Ashish Bhatia. He was also an expert in using explosives, and reportedly present during various SIMI terror training camps in Waghamon in Kerala and Halol near Vadodara and was instrumental in training the participants.

• October 23: An unidentified SIMI cadre was arrested from the Nagda District of Madhya Pradesh in connection with the July 26 serial blasts in Ahmedabad, Gujarat Police said on October 24, reports The Hindu.

• October 21: A special squad of the Thrissur District Police arrested two SIMI cadres from Kodungallur. The two cadres, identified as Nisar and Asghar, reportedly participated in a SIMI camp at Panayikulam on August 15, 2006.

• October 14: The special investigation team looking into the case relating to "clandestine meeting of activists of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI)" at Panayikulam in the Ernakulam District on August 15, 2006, has taken one more person, Nissar of Idukki, into custody. Nissar was among the 13 persons who were let off after the Police stopped the meeting and arrested five persons.

• October 13: The Supreme Court ruled that the Union Government's plea against a tribunal's ruling lifting the ban on the Students Islamic Movement of India will be heard by a larger bench of the Court, even as the ban is to continue. The bench of Justice S.B. Sinha and Justice Cyriac Joseph referred the matter to Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan saying the Government's suit be listed before "an appropriate and larger bench". The bench also said the ban on SIMI would continue till further orders.

• October 6: Kerala Police arrested two persons for their suspected links with the SIMI. Abdul Hakeem (22) from Azheekal in Guruvayur and Shameer (29) from Karukapadathu in Thrissur were arrested on information that the duo attended a clandestine meeting of SIMI activists at Panayikulam on August 15, 2006. The Police had taken 18 persons into custody. Five of them were arrested and the others released for lack of evidence. Shibili and Ansar, who were among those arrested from Panayikulam and later released on bail, were again arrested from Indore in Madhya Pradesh with firearms in their possession. They were produced before the Paravoor Judicial First Class Magistrate who remanded them to judicial custody till October 21.

• September 27: The Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) in Nagpur arrested a SIMI cadre in the IODC colony of Washim. Mohammed Khaleel Mohammed Ismail Chauhan (32) was working for SIMI since year 2000 and was based in Khandwa (Madhya Pradesh). He had taken shelter at his younger brother Aqueel Mohammed Ismail Yusuf Chauhan''s (also a SIMI cadre) place in IODC colony. Police sources said that Aqueel was involved in spreading communal violence in small cities. Khaleel has four offences of rioting and forgery registered against him in Khandwa.

• September 25: A SIMI cadre was arrested in connection with the serial blasts in Bangalore on July 25. Police said that Mohammad Samee Bagewadi alias Mohammad Samee attended most of the important camps organised by SIMI at Castle Rock near Hubli in Karnataka, Vagamon in Kerala and other places and also underwent training in these camps. Bagewadi, a resident of Bijapur, was allegedly influenced by SIMI''s ideology, and was closely associated with its leaders such as Safdar Hussain Nagori, Hafeez Hussain alias Adnan, Shibly, Tauqeer, Shahbaaz, Abu Bashar and others, Police sources said.

• September 24: Mumbai Police arrested five suspected members of the Indian Mujahideen. While Afzal Mutalib Usmani (32) was arrested from Uttar Pradesh, Mohammed Saddik Shaikh (31), Mohammed Arif Shaikh (38), Mohammed Zakir Shaikh (28) and Mohammed Ansar Shaikh were arrested from their Mumbai residences on September 23-night. All the accused, originally from Azamgarh District in Uttar Pradesh, have worked with the banned SIMI, Joint Commissioner (Crime), Rakesh Maria, told journalists. "They broke away from SIMI to form the radical group of Indian Mujahideen. Saddik was one of the co-founders of the outfit along with Atiq, killed in the Delhi encounter, and Roshan Khan, who is yet to be traced. The Police are on the lookout for Khan", Maria added. The Police have booked the arrested terrorists under the Explosives Act, Arms Act, various sections of the Indian Penal Code and for criminal conspiracy. The recovered items from the arrested terrorists include 10 kilograms of gelatin or ammonium nitrate, 15 detonators, eight kilograms of ball bearings, four fully active electronic circuits, one sub-machine carbine, two .38 revolvers and 30 cartridges of 9 mm carbine and eight cartridges of .38 revolver.

• September 13: 30 persons were killed and 100 more injured in a series of five bomb blasts in the busy market places of national capital New Delhi, reports. The first explosion took place at Karol Bagh at 6.10 pm. The next explosion took place at 6.35 pm near the Metro Station at Barakhamba Road. Five minutes later, another explosion took place at the Central Park in Cannaught Place. Two more explosions took place in the M-block market of the Greater Kailash area at 6.30 pm and 6.40 pm. Initial investigations revealed that the improvised explosive devices were configured using ammonium nitrate. Four live bombs were recovered and diffused. While one bomb was found outside the Regal Cinema in Cannaught Place, two more bombs were diffused in the Central Park at Cannaught Place and at India Gate. In an e-mail to the media, the Indian Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the explosions.

• September 11: The Supreme Court further extended its interim order continuing the ban on SIMI till the 2nd week of October, 2008. This is the second time the apex court has extended the ban. The Union Government had filed a petition challenging the decision of a Special Tribunal to lift curbs imposed on the organisation. The Court has asked the Centre to place before it the synopsis of arguments and other documents in support of its stand to ban SIMI. The ruling came after the Government petitioned for more time for probe.

• September 7: Two youths, identified as Mohammad Sohail and Azam, detained in Jodhpur were arrested by the SIT on charges of involvement in the May 13, 2008 Jaipur serial blasts case. During investigation, it was found that both had links with the banned SIMI and the main accused of the Jaipur serial blasts, including Sajid, Karimudeen and Taukir. They had allegedly arranged hotel rooms for the meetings of Sajid and his accomplices. The SIT sources claimed, "Sajid and his associates like Taukir, Karimudeen and others had visited Jodhpur many times and generated funds from there. It was found that Sohail and Azam had also gathered Zakat (charity) for them". With these two arrests, the total number of people arrested in connection with the Jaipur serial blasts went up to 14.

• September 4: Four suspected cadres of the SIMI were arrested in connection with the July 26 Ahmedabad bomb blasts from Ahmedabad and Bhuj towns. An Ahmedabad police spokesman said that while Naved Kadri, Aiyyaz Sayed and Zaved Ahmed were arrested from Ahmedabad, Abbas Asmeja was arrested from Bhuj. The arrests took place following confessions made by the 10 main accused SIMI cadres. Aiyyaz was among those who had actually placed some of the bombs. Naved Kadri was present at the final planning meeting held in Juhapura. Zaved Ahmed had procured a gas cylinder from Kalupur area, which was used in the car bomb placed at the trauma centre in the civil hospital. Asmeja had secured a house, under a false name on behalf of the SIMI, under rehabilitation projects for the people hit by the 2001 Kutch earthquake. The house was sold recently to part-finance the blasts.

• September 1: The Hyderabad Police arrested a person identified as Jaber from the Hyderabad city for suspected links with the SIMI. Hyderabad City Commissioner of Police B. Prasada Rao said, "Jaber has been arrested for his alleged links with the banned SIMI and sharing material with SIMI head Safdar Nagori." Jaber, son of Moulana Naseeruddin, is a Hyderabad resident. Naseeruddin is an accused in the assassination of former Gujarat Home Minister Haren Pandya and is now in Sabarmati jail in Gujarat.

• August 26: Gujarat Police arrested Tanveer Pathan alias Sameer, a suspected SIMI member, from the Mira road area in Mumbai for his alleged involvement in the planting of bombs in Surat. Police sources said Pathan's name was revealed during the interrogation of Sajid Mansuri, an accused arrested in connection with the Ahmedabad serial blasts case. An unidentified police officer told, "Pathan was in touch with several SIMI activists in Pune and we passed on this information to the Gujarat Police. After Pathan's name emerged in the investigation, a team from the Gujarat Police arrived in Mumbai. With the help of the ATS, the Gujarat team caught Pathan."

• August 25: The Supreme Court extended its stay of a tribunal order quashing the Union Government’s February 7, 2008 notification, which banned the SIMI by six weeks. A bench, consisting of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice P. Sathasivam, said, "The matter is important. We are ready to hear it. What we are concerned [with] are the documents and records relevant on the date of the ban notification."

• August 23: The 'Indian Mujahideen', which had claimed responsibility for the recent serial explosions in Gujarat, sent a mail to TV channels with photographs of cars claimed to have been used in the attacks on two hospitals in Ahmedabad. Claiming that not a single Indian Mujahideen cadre involved in the blasts have been arrested so far the outfit threatened to widen the arc of its attacks. "The Indian Mujahideen on its full authority declares that by the Grace of Allah not even a single mujahid from our ranks who played even a minute role in the blasts, have been arrested to date. We are completely safe", the mail said.

• August 21: The Anti-terrorism Squad (ATS) of the Mumbai Police arrested Feroz Mehboob Pathan (32), a suspected to SIMI member and part of the recently neutralised sleeper module of the outfit, from the Ghorpade Peth area of Pune. Two others were detained but not arrested.

• August 20: The Union Government filed a fresh affidavit in the Supreme Court, citing the involvement of SIMI cadres in the July 26 serial bomb blasts in Ahmedabad in Gujarat. In its affidavit, the Government said investigations revealed that the accused in the bomb blasts in Ahmedabad and Surat on July 26 were members of the SIMI. Annexing the depositions made by witnesses, the Government further said intelligence sources and secret surveillance by the police made it clear that the accused had nexus with international terrorist outfits. Further, these persons were persistently involved in more than one offence or other unlawful activities and the nature of activities indulged in by the outfit would show secessionist tendencies and the potential damage to the secular fabric of society.

  Replying to the debate in the Uttar Pradesh State Legislative Assembly on terrorist activities and the role of the SIMI in the recent serial bomb blasts, the State Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Lalji Verma, said that since 2003 no activity of SIMI has been witnessed in Uttar Pradesh. He further said between 1998 and 2003, 65 cases had been registered against SIMI activists in the State. Rejecting the charge of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that the UP police and its security and intelligence agencies were inefficient in containing the menace, Minister Verma said the security and intelligence units in 34 sensitive districts and on the State’s border have been upgraded.

  Following leads given by arrested SIMI cadre Usman Agarbattiwala, the Ahmedabad Crime Branch recovered two pistols, a pipe bomb, balloons and 19 CDs and DVDs containing speeches of Osama bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leaders, laptops and hard drives from different places in the city. Usman Agarbattiwala was one of the ten SIMI members arrested for their alleged involvement in the Ahmedabad blasts.

• August 19: A team of the Gujarat Anti Terrorism Squad arrested dentist Mohammed Salim Honali (31) from Bijapur in Karnataka. Honali used to work with the MA Rangoonwala College of Dental Sciences and Research Centre at the Azam Campus in Pune till May 2008 before he was laid off. ATS officials suspect that Honali not only had a significant role in the July 26, 2008 Ahmedabad blasts but was also brainwashing other youth to bring them into the radical fold. ATS officials said jihadi literature was recovered from all four suspects.

• August 17: Three persons were arrested in Bharuch in Gujarat for renting a house to the SIMI activist Sajid Mansuri, who allegedly played a key role in the July 26 Ahmedabad serial blasts. Mansuri had taken the house on rent from Saeed Hayat at Lukman society in Bharuch. Hayat had the power of attorney over the house that belonged to a London-based non-resident Indian. Two persons, Yusuf Patel and Maqbul Patel, had recommended the name of Sajid Mansuri to Saeed Hayat.

  Police in Indore in Madhya Pradesh arrested a suspected SIMI activist in connection with the serial blasts in Ahmedabad on July 26. The arrest followed a tip off provided by the Gujarat Police. Nine persons arrested by the Gujarat Police on August 16 for their alleged involvement in the blasts had disclosed that the explosives used in the blasts were sent from Madhya Pradesh.

  Police sources in Gujarat claimed that SIMI leader Abul Bashar Qasmi who was arrested from Uttar Pradesh on August 16 for his involvement in the serial blasts in Ahmedabad has "confessed" to his and his team’s involvement in the terror attack. According to Abhay Chudasma, Joint Commissioner, Ahmedabad Crime Branch police, Qasmi also confirmed the role of Sajid Mansuri, another arrested senior SIMI member in the blasts. "We are questioning him on the details of other locals involved in the terror attack", Chudasma said. Police also suspected Qasmi and Sajid’s involvement in the Jaipur blasts. "We are still questioning Qasmi on the Jaipur link", Chudasma added. The police said Qasmi had taken over charge of the SIMI national network after the arrest of its leader Safdar Nagori and his brother Karimuddin Nagori in Indore in Madhya Pradesh in March. Safdar and Karimuddin had originally planned the execution of the Ahmedabad blasts and to carry out bombings in Surat too.

• August 16: The Gujarat Police announced the arrest of SIMI leader Abul Bashar Qasmi, who allegedly was the mastermind behind the July 26 Ahmedabad serial bomb blasts. Gujarat Director-General of Police P.C. Pandey said Qasmi was arrested from a village in Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh (UP) by a joint team of the UP and Gujarat Police. The Gujarat police also said with this arrest they had unravelled the conspiracy that led to the bombings. Before Qasmi’s arrest, nine SIMI cadres were arrested from Ahmedabad and Vadodara. "We now have the entire details of how and where the plans for the Ahmedabad blasts were chalked out, who were the people involved and how the entire plan was operationalised," the DGP said. He also claimed that the same group was involved in planting bombs in Surat.

• August 14: A SIMI activist was arrested in Bharuch in Gujarat in connection with the serial blasts in Ahmedabad on July 26. The arrested SIMI cadre Mohammad Sajid Mansori is suspected to have been part of the conspiracy to carry out the nine blasts across the Gujarat capital.

• August 8: The All India Minority Front said it had evidence that the SIMI had links with terror outfits in Pakistan. The Front national president S.M. Asif told reporters, "We have evidence of SIMI's links with Pakistani terror outfits and are ready to provide it to the central government provided we are assured security." "We have spoken to various Muslim people who have proof in this regard but they fear for their lives", he added. He further said, "We want SIMI should be banned and punished. The minorities in the country are opposed to all sorts of militancy. Even then Muslims suffer whenever there is any terror attack in the country."

• August 6: The Supreme Court stayed the order by the Special Tribunal quashing the Union Government's February 7, 2008 notification declaring the SIMI an unlawful organisation. A Bench of the Supreme Court stayed the order on a mention made by Additional Solicitor-General Gopal Subramaniam about the Union Government filing a special leave petition against the lifting of the ban. The Bench, consisting of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice A.K. Mathur, ordered notice to the SIMI seeking its response in three weeks.

  The MHA asked the Uttar Pradesh Government to send details of the criminal cases pending against the SIMI and its activists. Police headquarters in State capital Lucknow said that it has received a letter in this regard. The Office of the Director General of Police (DGP) has, consequently, started compiling the details of the recent cases against the SIMI.

• August 5: The Anti-Terrorist Cell (ATC) attached to the Belgaum district Police Department in Karnataka arrested three suspected SIMI cadres. They were identified as Naveed Khaji and Ansar Nizami, both from Malmaruti area, and Sadiq Mulla of Azad Nagar. The arrest took place on the basis of information given by suspected SIMI cadres Tanveer Mulla and Iqbal Jakati, who were arrested recently. With the arrest of these three, the number of arrested suspected SIMI activists in the district rose to 11.

  A specially-designated tribunal lifted the ban imposed by the Union Government on the activities of the SIMI. Justice Geeta Mittal of the Delhi High Court, who headed the tribunal, held that there was no new evidence submitted by the Government against the SIMI to justify the extension of the ban. A senior law officer said that the Government only came out with the evidence of the Malegaon blasts in Maharashtra in 2006 to show the complicity of the organisation in unlawful activities which was not sufficient to come out with the notification to ban it.

• August 2: Immigration officials at the Mumbai International Airport detained a passenger in connection with a blast in the Judicial Magistrate First Class court in Hubli in Karnataka in May 2008. The passenger Iqbal Shaukat Ali is alleged to be a SIMI activist. A resident of Belgaum in Karnataka, Ali had fled to Sharjah soon after his name emerged as one of the major suspects in the blast. Subsequently, he was remanded to four days of police custody.

• July 27: The Ahmedabad Joint Police Commissioner Asish Bhatia said an activist of the banned SIMI, Abdul Halim, who was wanted in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots, was arrested during the combing operation in the city following the July 26 serial explosions in Ahmedabad (Gujarat).

• July 15: Police arrested Mohammed Muqeemuddin Yaser, a former SIMI member, from his residence in the Saidabad area of Hyderabad, capital of Andhra Pradesh. Yaser, who is a MBA student, is also the eldest son of Maulana Naseeruddin, the founder president of Tehreek-e-Tahaffuz-e-Shaan-e-Islam (TTSI) and is presently lodged at the Sabarmati jail in Ahmedabad for his alleged role in the assassination of the former Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya. Yaser’s younger brother Raziuddin Naser, a suspect in the twin blast cases in Hyderabad in August 2007, was arrested by the Karnataka Police in January 2008 for planning terrorist attacks in Karnataka and Goa. SIT sources said "Yaser was an active member of SIMI. Now, he along with some other former SIMI activists of the city has formed a group which downloads jihadi material and religious killing videos from the internet and distributes disks to extremist religious groups in the country."

• June 8: Supporting continuation of the ban on the SIMI, the Karnataka Government in its affidavit submitted to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Tribunal contended that some of the SIMI members had been in contact with militant outfits. The Tribunal, set up by the Union Government to review the ban on SIMI concluded its two-day sitting on June 8 in Bangalore.

• June 1: The Kerala Government represented its case in favour of continuing the proscription on the SIMI. The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Tribunal appointed by the Union Government to review the ban on SIMI began a two-day sitting in capital Trivandrum. Representing the State Government, Inspector General of Police (Internal Security), N. C. Asthana, filed an affidavit before the tribunal stating that the SIMI was still carrying out unlawful activities in Kerala and hence the ban imposed on it shall be continued.

• May 27: Police arrested a SIMI cadre, identified as Nasir Liyaqat Ali Patel, from Belgaum for allegedly spreading messages of hatred. Police also recovered the hard disc from his computer.

• May 17: The special investigative team conducted raids across the State targeting activists of the SIMI. A SIMI cadre, Mohammad Shajid, was detained for questioning. Raids were conducted at Jaipur, Ajmer, Fatehpur, Godhpur, Tonk and Sikar on the basis of Intelligence inputs. A senior police officer said, "Raids were conducted, but it seems most of the activists have gone underground fearing arrests."

• May 8: Three suspected SIMI activists were arrested from the New Housing Board colony area of Morena in Madhya Pradesh. Fake currency worth INR 80,000 and four mobile phones were recovered from them. Police sources said that one of the arrested Naajmia belongs to Kayamganj in Uttar Pradesh, while the other two, Pappu alias Sudhir Jadaun and Rajbir Gurjar, were from Morena.

• April 23: The Union Minister of State for Home, Sriprakash Jaiswal, in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha (upper house of Parliament) said that despite the ban, the SIMI has been carrying out its activities clandestinely including holding of organizational meetings and circulation of literature. The Minister said that more than 70 male SIMI cadres have been arrested during the last one year as per reports from Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Karnataka. No foreign national is among those arrested, he said. The Minister added that activities of the SIMI have been noticed in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

• April 22: The Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Sriprakash Jaiswal, replying to questions in the Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament) said that the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) has links with terrorist groups, including the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT). He said that the links have been revealed in investigations into a number of cases. The minister further said that 181 SIMI cadres have been arrested in various States since 2006 and arms, ammunition, incriminating literature and other items were recovered from them. Of them, 128 were arrested in Madhya Pradesh.

• April 10: The Mumbai Police arrested two SIMI cadres from the Thane district. The duo, identified as Irshad Salim Khan and Israr Ahmed Abdul Hamid Tailor, are believed to be close to the arrested secretary-general of the outfit, Safdar Nagori. Khan is a civil engineer by profession and was the former president of the outfit while Israr Ahmed is a computer professional. Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria said, "Both are wanted in a case registered under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act here on July 28, 2006, in which train blasts accused Ehtesham Siddqui was earlier arrested."

  The Madhya Pradesh Police arrested a SIMI cadre from the Rishala area of Indore city. The arrested cadre, identified as Hafiz Yusuf, has been an active worker of the outfit and played a significant role in collecting funds for the outfit, police sources said. He was working in a mobile shop in Indore.

• April 7: Six SIMI cadres were arrested by the Madhya Pradesh police. While five SIMI cadres were arrested from Guna, a suspected SIMI cadre, identified as Naved Irfan was arrested in Indore’s Muslim- dominated Khajrana area for allegedly indulging in illegal activities and aiding anti-national elements, a senior police officer said.

  The Jabalpur Police in Madhya Pradesh announced a reward of INR 5,000 to those who help trace two absconding SIMI activists Mohammad Ali and Mohammad Shakil.

• April 5: Three SIMI activists were arrested from Narsinghgarh town in the Rajgarh district. The Rajgarh Superintendent of Police D. K. Arya said that the SIMI cadres, identified as Irfan, Faizal and Shakir, were arrested on charges of aiding anti-national elements and indulging in illegal activities. An unspecified quantity of objectionable material, video cassettes and CDs were recovered from the house where the arrests occurred.

• April 4: Three persons, including a woman, were arrested for allegedly renting their premises to SIMI leaders in Indore and Khargone. A house in the Shyam Nagar locality of Indore was rented to SIMI's Andhra Pradesh unit chief Qamaruddin Nagori from where police arrested top 13 leaders of the outfit on March 27. The house rented to the SIMI by Gaffar Khan Bakerywale was registered in the name of his daughter-in-law Shahnaz Bi. Police arrested both Khan and Shahnaz for not providing information to the police about giving their house on rent.

  Separately, in Khargone, another person, identified as Shahzad Hussein, was arrested for allegedly providing his farmhouse to the SIMI for running training camps.

• April 2: Madhya Pradesh Police neutralised a SIMI training camp in Choral, a popular holiday spot, 35-kilometres from the State capital Bhopal. Police claimed that interrogation of the 13 arrested SIMI cadres led to the information on the existence of the camp. The Superintendent of Police Chanchal Shekhar told, "We were told the camp trained SIMI activists from Jharkhand, Kerala, Karnataka and a few other states. Each training camp would train around 20 SIMI members. We have information of five such camps in the past one-and-half years, which would mean about a hundred SIMI activists trained in Choral." He said that the trainees were made to climb the surrounding mountains and swim across the river daily. The police also found evidence of a firing range and exploded bits of petrol bombs.

  Separately, Police recovered 122 super-explosive gelatine sticks, 100 detonators and switchboards buried underground in the Gawali village under Balwara police station area of Khargaon district.

• April 1: The Assam Government told the Legislative Assembly that SIMI was active in Assam, but clarified that no member of the group had been arrested so far in the State. "While the Government had banned SIMI in 2001, there is information that the group is still active in Assam," Minister Rockybul Hussain told the Assembly.

• March 31: A team of Madhya Pradesh Police arrested seven SIMI cadres from an unspecified location. The investigators interrogating the 13 SIMI leaders arrested in Indore on March 27 claimed that the banned outfit were planning to kill top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including the Leader of Opposition L. K. Advani, and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. The investigators further claimed that the SIMI was even running training camps for militants to carry out terrorist attacks in the country.

• March 27: 13 SIMI leaders, including the outfit’s General Secretary Safdar Nagori and his brother Kamruddin Nagori, were arrested following several raids in Indore by the Madhya Pradesh Police. Police described the arrested persons as active members of the outfit hailing from Kerala, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. The arrested persons included SIMI’s Karnataka unit chief Hafiz Hussain and Shivli, who is the mainstay of the group’s operations in Kerala. Pistols, cartridges, nine mobile phones, INR 45,000 in cash, 15 masks, 22 pairs of surgical gloves and surgical instruments, SIMI literature were recovered from the arrested persons.

  Police raided the house of SIMI leader Shiblyin a village in Kottayam district. Two computers were recovered from the houses of Shibli and his brother, Shaduli.

• March 18: The Union Minister of State for Home, Sriprakash Jaiswal, said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament) that the SIMI and its associates were planning to commit serial blasts and other serious offences in the country. "While there was no present input indicating any specific plans of SIMI to attack important installation, ...One arrested person disclosed that he along with his SIMI associates were planning to commit serial blasts and other serious offences," Jaiswal said.

• March 11: A former Bihar unit chief of the SIMI, Arif Abrar, who had surrendered before a lower court in Nagpur in January 2008, was reportedly granted bail by the 10th Ad hoc Sessions Judge. Abrar who was lodged in the Nagpur central jail after police interrogation is expected to be released shortly. Defence lawyer A.M. Rizway stated that court found no incriminating evidence against him.

• February 21: The Corps of Detectives arrested a software engineer for suspected links with the banned SIMI from Guruappanapalya under Mico Layout police station limits in Bangalore, capital of Karnataka. However, four of his alleged accomplices escaped during the police operation. Yahya Khan is a native of Kerala and was working in a leading multinational information technology company in the city and he was reportedly under watch by the Bangalore Police for the past few days. Police sources said that the arrest followed information given by Mohammad Asif, a final-year MBBS student, and another SIMI activist, who was arrested in Hubli recently.

• February 12: The Corps of Detectives, which is investigating a terrorist module unearthed by the Davangere police in Karnataka, arrested an electrician from Dharwad for his alleged links with the banned SIMI. The arrested identified as Shakeel, a resident of Koppadakeri in the Dharwad district, had helped the SIMI activists to hold two meetings, one near the Mastansab Darga on Saudatti Road and the other at the Halligere forests on Haliyal Road in Hubli in November 2007. Shakeel reportedly participated in these meetings where some 25 SIMI activists from Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Kerala allegedly discussed plans to carry out acts of sabotage. These activists had held another meeting near Dandeli in May 2007.

• February 12: Firoz Sanadi, the former deputy mayor of Belgaum city in Karnataka, and nine medical students were detained for alleged links with the SIMI and suspected militant Mohammed Asif who is in police custody.

  Former Bihar unit chief of the SIMI, Dr Abrar Arif, who had surrendered before the Nagpur court recently, was sent to jail after he was produced before the lower court 2 by Sadar police.

• February 10: The Islamic Students Association (ISA) is functioning transparently and it has no links with the banned SIMI, said ISA ad-hoc committee secretary E K Noufal in Kozhikode in Kerala.

• February 7: The Union Government decided to continue the ban on the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) for another two years. "The decision to re-impose the ban for two years has been taken in view of the fact that the group continues to indulge in unlawful activities," said the home ministry spokesperson Onkar Kedia.

• February 6: Police arrested four activists of the Islamic Students Association (ISA), while trying to stick wall posters in the early hours at Edavamgal near Bekal in the Kasargod district of Kerala. The four activists of the newly-floated ISA, which seemed to be a front organisation of the banned SIMI, said the police.

• January 31: Mohammad Abrar Arif Mohammad Kasim, a key SIMI leader, surrendered before a court in Nagpur after remaining at large for 18 months.

• January 22: A report in The Hindu stated that the SIMI is believed to be operating under the cover of at least 12 organisations in Kerala. SIMI organisers periodically change the name of their front organisations to shake off police surveillance. Intelligence officials believe that SIMI activists in Kerala had developed links with the Lashkar-e-Toiba in 2006. They said that SIMI activists are operating under the cover of religious study centres, rural development and research centres and institutions for developing "personal effectiveness." Some of these organisations were spreading "extremist religious ideals" among a section of impressionable youth by acting as "counselling and guidance centres working for behavioural change". In the past 10 years, the police have registered 17 cases against suspected SIMI activists.

2007

• October 23: Daily News & Analysis reported that the role of a splinter group of the SIMI is being examined by the internal security agencies for its alleged linkages with some rural non-government organisations (NGOs) in Maharashtra. An unidentified intelligence official said cadres belonging to the SIMI splinter, Tehereek Taifooz Sher-e-Islam, could have established linkages with a section of Muslim functionaries in these NGOs. Central intelligence agencies and the State Intelligence Department reportedly have been investigating the way these NGOs are managed.

• September 6: The Supreme Court asked the SIMI to serve a fresh notice to the government on its plea for transferring the petition relating to the ban imposed on the organisation from the Delhi High Court to the apex court. SIMI had sought transfer of the petition filed by it in the High Court challenging the ban imposed in September 2003 for its alleged anti-national activities. Two other petitions filed by SIMI challenging the ban in September 2001 and February 2006 are pending in the apex court and hence it has sought transfer of the 2003 petition so that all the three petitions could be decided by the apex court.

• July 5: Four persons, including two Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) militants, were convicted by a court in New Delhi for possessing explosives and conspiring to wage war against the country. The other two persons, held guilty under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Explosive Substances Act, are members of the outlawed Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Gulzar Ahmed Wani and Mohiuddin, the HM militants from Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir, and Feroz Rafi and Mumtaz, the SIMI activists from Uttar Pradesh, were arrested at New Delhi Railway Station on July 30, 2001. Police had then seized a huge haul of RDX, grenades, launchers, detonators and other explosives from them. The Hizb militants had reportedly come to Delhi to deliver the explosives to the SIMI activists. With their arrest, police had claimed to have solved six bomb blast cases, including the 2001 Sena Bhavan blast. However, the court on February 23 acquitted them in all these cases for lack of evidence.

  Times Now reported that the SIMI has stepped up efforts to strengthen its base in the northeastern region along the India-Myanmar border. SIMI has been trying to tie up with Manipur-based outfits and especially the Peoples' United Liberation Front (PULF), an organization of indigenous Muslims of Manipur called Pangals. The report further indicated that SIMI's presence in the north-eastern region could pose a grave threat since several jihadi outfits with similar ideologies are already active on both sides of the border.

• March 9: Police in Patna (Bihar) arrested Mohd Haseeb Raza, an activist of the SIMI, from his Phulwari residence. Police sources said that Raza was the state secretary of the outfit and was wanted in a case lodged in 2001 as a prime accused for planning subversive activities in the country.

• February 15: The Supreme Court described the proscribed Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) as a "secessionist movement". A bench of Justice S. B. Sinha and Markandeya Katju observed while dealing with the Special Leave Petition filed by the SIMI challenging the ban imposed on it, "You are a secessionist movement. You have not stopped your activities." The Bench refused to agree with the submissions put forth by Kamini Jaiswal, counsel for the SIMI, that there was no evidence to link SIMI to any anti-national activity after 2003. In the petition, the SIMI had challenged the judgment of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act Tribunal headed by Justice B. N. Chaturvedi of the Delhi High Court, which confirmed the ban imposed on the organisation by the Union Government on February 8, 2006.

• January 22: Police have beefed up security in the Cuttack city amidst intelligence reports indicating that the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) cadres are planning to orchestrate a terrorist attack during the India-West Indies one-day Cricket Match at the Barabati Stadium on January 24.

2006

• December 21: The Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of the Maharashtra Police filed the charge sheet in the September 8 Malegaon serial blasts case. The charge sheet stated that nine SIMI cadres had hatched and executed the conspiracy with the help of two Pakistani nationals in the textile town to "infuriate the entire Muslim community and trigger communal riots’’. 40 persons died and 312 were injured in four blasts.

• December 4: The Uttar Pradesh Government said that it had not received any direction from the Union Government to proscribe the SIMI. In a written reply to a question in the State Legislative Assembly, Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav said that no instructions had been received from the Centre to ban SIMI. The State Government had recently successfully moved an application in a district court in Baharaich seeking withdrawal of cases against SIMI chief Shahid Badar Falah.

• November 7: According to IANS, the SIMI is contemplating changing its name to evade attention it receives for its association with the terrorists. Quoting unidentified sources, the report said that SIMI may emerge under a new name such as Teharik-e-Millat or Awaz-e-Sura, with a view to expand its activities in Madhya Pradesh.

• November 5: Six SIMI cadres are arrested in Indore. Police said that the six had met a detained senior SIMI operative, Imran Ansari, at a local restaurant while he was being escorted for a court hearing on November 1.

• October 30: Maharashtra Police arrests Noorul Hooda Shamshul Hooda, a SIMI activist, in connection with the Malegaon serial bomb blasts of September 8, 2006.

• October 8: A suspected SIMI cadre, Nurullah Samsudoha, is arrested from the Jaffar Nagar area of Malegaon town in Maharashtra.

• September 6: The Bahraich District court in Uttar Pradesh grants permission to withdraw a treason case against the banned SIMI chief Shahid Badar Falah and 11 other members of the outfit.

• August 23: Two suspects in the October 2005 Delhi serial bomb blasts are remanded to the custody of Mumbai Police till August 28 by a local court in Mumbai. Firoz Abdul Latif Ghaswala and Mohammed Ali Chippa, who were lodged in a jail in Delhi, were brought to Mumbai on August 23 and produced before a local court. Both, suspected to be linked to the SIMI, have allegedly visited Pakistan clandestinely to undergo training in arms and explosives handling at the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) camps.
  
  Speaking in the State Legislative Assembly, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav ruled out the involvement of the Students Islamic Movement of India in recent terrorist attacks in the State.

• August 22: Faizal Ataur Rehman Sheikh, allegedly Lashkar-e-Toiba’s Mumbai chief, and younger brother Muzamil, a software programmer, were booked in the Bandra blast case and remanded to police custody till September 4. In its remand plea, the Anti-Terrorist Squad said the brothers were active members of the proscribed SIMI and had been to Pakistan for military training.

• August 18: SIMI activists, Waqar Baig Yusuf Baig and Jitaullah Rehman Mehmood Khan, are arrested from Kazipur in the textile township of Hinganghat in Wardha district of Maharashtra.

• August 16: Five suspected SIMI activists, identified as Saduli, Abdul Aziz, Shammi, all from Kottayam district, and Anzar and Nizammudin, both from Aluva, arrested in Kerala.

• August 15: Kerala Police arrested 18 suspected SIMI activists from Binamipuram in the Kochi district.

• August 13: Two SIMI activists, Irfan Sayeed and Najib Bakali, are arrested by Mumbai Police personnel investigating the July 11 blasts.

• August 8: Three SIMI cadres, Shakil Warsi, Shakir Ahmed Nasi and Mohammad Rehan Khan, are arrested in connection with the July 11 Mumbai serial blasts from Nagpur in Maharashtra.

• August 7: The tribunal, constituted to examine the ban imposed on SIMI by the Union Government, holds it "legal and valid”.

• July 29: SIMI activist, Ehtashan Siddiqui, is arrested from his Mira Road residence on the outskirts of Mumbai for alleged links to the 7/11 blasts.

• July 21: Bhopal Police arrests a SIMI activist, Imran, wanted in two cases, one registered at Surat in the State of Gujarat and the other at Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh. He is said to be an organising SIMI activities at the national level.

• July 13: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav says in Lucknow that the SIMI is not active in the State and there is no evidence of its involvement in any unlawful activity during his regime. He further said that as far as its existence in Uttar Pradesh is concerned, it will be improper to initiate action without evidence.

• July 6: The Supreme Court upheld the ban on the SIMI rejecting a petition that claimed that the organisation had not been found to engage in any terrorist activities.

• June 2: According to the Government of Kerala, the SIMI is operating under the cover of at least 12 organisations in the State. At least two organizations linked to the SIMI are operating in the capital city of Thiruvananthapuram.

• April 25: Mohammad Aamir, the chief of SIMI's Uttar Pradesh State unit and the prime accused in the Kanpur riots of March 16, 2006, surrenders before a metropolitan magistrate in Kanpur.

• April 21: The Union Government declares the SIMI an unlawful association under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. It also constitutes a Tribunal, comprising Justice B.N. Chaturvedi of the Delhi High Court, for adjudicating whether or not there is sufficient cause for declaring SIMI as an unlawful association.

2005

• July 11: Police in Uttar Pradesh arrest six persons, including four of a family, from Faizabad in connection with the July 5-attack on the disputed complex in Ayodhya. The arrested family members were associated with the banned Students Islamic Movement of India, according to official sources.

• June 11: All eight accused in the Ghatkopar blast case, allegedly cadres of the SIMI, are acquitted by a POTA court in Mumbai due to lack of evidence.

• March 8: Delhi Police arrests a SIMI member, Mohammad Iftikar Ehsan Malick, from Dehradun, the capital city of Uttaranchal.

2004

• November 1: Maulana Nasiruddin, president of the Tahaffuz Shari'at-e Islam (Protection of Islamic Sharia) and allegedly linked to the SIMI, is arrested from Hyderabad in connection with his suspected links to the murder former Gujarat Home Minister Haren Pandya.

2003

• November 11: A court in New Delhi acquits SIMI president Shahid Badar Falah in a case of sedition, which was filed against him in September 2001.

• September 12: Five persons, including two SIMI activists, are arrested for the removal of railway sleeper clips from the tracks in Kumardubi-Barakar section in West Bengal.

• July 21: POTA court in New Delhi sentences two SIMI activists to a five-year imprisonment under POTA for their membership of the proscribed organization and seven years imprisonment for sedition.

• July 16: A POTA Court in Delhi convicts two SIMI activists for their active involvement with the banned outfit.

• May 26: Mumbai Police arrest two suspected activists of the SIMI in the Ghatkopar bomb blast case and remand them to police custody till June 5.

• May 14: Mumbai Police arrest three persons from Padgah village and foil a plan that envisaged a series of explosions in Mumbai and Kerala, which was allegedly hatched by the SIMI and Lashkar-e-Toiba. The accused were identified as Muzzamal Ansari, Mohammed Nadir Palob and Arif Hussain.

• May 11: Mumbai Police detains SIMI activist Anwar Ali, a lecturer of the National Defence Academy in Khadakvasla, Maharashtra, for his suspected involvement in the March 13-Mulund train bomb explosion case.

• May 3: Mumbai Police arrests six SIMI activists with links to the LeT and also seizes lethal chemicals and some arms and ammunition from their possession.

• April 25: Mumbai Police arrests two suspected SIMI activists for their alleged involvement in the March 13-Mulund-bomb blast case from the Padgha village of Thane district.

• April 21: Mumbai Police arrests Ghulam Akbar Khotal, an alleged SIMI activist from Ratnagiri in Maharashtra, in connection with March 13 Mulund blast.

• April 10: Saquib Nachan, a SIMI activist, surrenders before the Mumbai High Court. He is subsequently arrested by the Mumbai Police and booked under POTA for his alleged involvement in the Mulund blast. Saquib was arrested from Gujarat in October 1992 under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) for his subversive activities and sentenced to life imprisonment, which was later commuted to 10 years by the Supreme Court. He was released from the Sabarmati jail in April 2001.

• March 12: Noman Badar alias Falahi, one of the top leaders of SIMI, is brought on transit remand to Delhi from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. A case against him is pending in a Court in Delhi for his involvement in unlawful activities, including publishing objectionable using inflammatory language.

• February 24: Police arrest two persons allegedly connected with the SIMI at Rabodi in Thane District of Maharashtra and seize incriminating documents from their possession.

• January 29: Mumbai Police suspects the LeT and SIMI for the twin blasts near Vile Parle railway station in Mumbai on January 27 and January 28. United Arab Emirates (UAE) based LeT terrorist Abu Hamza is suspected to be the masterminded behind the first explosion, in which a women was killed and 25 more injured.

• January 27: Uttar Pradesh Police arrests three SIMI activists from Lucknow and recover certain incriminating documents from them.

• January 26: Dubai authorities deport Mohammed Altaf, an activist of the SIMI and main accused in the December 2, 2002, bomb blast at Ghatkopar.

• January 9: Madhya Pradesh Police arrests Bhopal district unit former president of the SIMI Khalid Naeem. He was later released on bail.

• January 3: Mumbai Police invokes POTA against four SIMI activists–– Abdul Mattin, Sayed Khwaja, Muzzamil Ahmed and Zahir Shaikh––for allegedly setting off a blast inside a bus in Ghatkopar on December 2, 2002, in which three persons were killed.

2002

• December 21: A Delhi court discharges SIMI leader Mohammed Javed Iqbal in a sedition and unlawful activities case and also drops sedition charges against its president Shahid Badar and three others. While discharging Iqbal, the court granted bail to Badar and four others in the case. The court also dropped sedition charge against Badar in another case and granted him bail on a personal bond of Rs 5,000 and one surety.

• October 7: Supreme Court issues notices to Union Government and eight States on a petition filed by the SIMI challenging the Union Home Ministry's order declaring the organization as unlawful and the subsequent order of a Tribunal upholding the same. States to which notices were issued are: Kerala, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh.

• May 27: Two SIMI activists are arrested in Delhi.

• May 5: Uttar Pradesh unit SIMI chief Noman Badar is arrested in Lucknow.

• March 18: SIMI activist Hasib Raja is arrested in Kolkata, West Bengal, and half a kilogram of RDX is seized from him. He was allegedly planning to blow up the Howrah Bridge.

• January 28: Police arrest eight SIMI activists from Vadodara in Gujarat.

2001

• December 28: Police in Surat, Gujarat, arrest 123 persons for their alleged links with SIMI and also recover certain incriminating documents from their possession.

• October 24: Maharashtra Police files charge sheet in a Jalgaon Court against 11 SIMI activists arrested for suspected terrorist activities.

• October 8: Police arrest the Tamil Nadu State vice-president of SIMI, Abdul Qudoos, from Madurai.

• October 5: Maharashtra Police arrest three SIMI activists from Ahmednagar.

• October 1: Police arrest nine SIMI activists in Madhya Pradesh and one in Delhi.

• September 29: After the ban on SIMI, the Police arrest another 122 of its cadres across the country.

• September 28: Delhi Police seals SIMI headquarters at Zakir Nagar and arrests four senior members of the organisation, including its national president Dr Shahid Badr Falah. Shahid Badr was subsequently charged with sedition and inciting communal disharmony in Uttar Pradesh.

• September 27: Union Government imposes a ban on the SIMI under section 3(1) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Following the ban, 241 SIMI activists were arrested across the country and authorities seal many of its regional offices.

• September 21: Uttar Pradesh Police arrests three SIMI activists in Bahraich for alleged anti-India activities. Five more SIMI cadres were arrested in the same town a day earlier.

• August 8: The Uttar Pradesh Police says SIMI activists arrested in Kanpur earlier have revealed that the ISI had asked one of its agents to supply explosive material for subversive activities in northern India.

• August 6: Police in Kanpur register cases against 12 SIMI activists on charges of waging war and sedition.

• May 9: Police arrest 13 SIMI activists, including zonal President Irshad Khan, in Kurla and Vikhroli in Maharashtra for allegedly possessing weapons and several incriminating documents.

• April 10: Ilyas Gausn, main accused in the Pune communal violence, surrenders before a judicial magistrate in the city.

• March 16: Six persons, including an Additional District Magistrate, are killed in a clash between SIMI activists and police in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh.

• March 11: Police arrest Sajid Sundke, city unit chief of SIMI, and four of his associates in Pune for their suspected involvement in the communal riots in Ganj Peth and Ghorpade Peth areas of the city.

2000

• March 12: Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Chhagan Bhujbal, discloses in the State Legislative Assembly that Pakistan-based underworld don Chhota Shakeel, in league with the SIMI, is inciting communal riots in some parts of the State.

• August 15: Uttar Pradesh Police arrest Mohammad Aquil, a former student of Aligarh Muslim University and an active SIMI member, in connection with a bomb blast in the Sabarmati Express train near Faizabad.