Ex-SIMI Office-Bearer Saquib Nachan Dies In Delhi Hospital
Saquib Nachan, a former office-bearer of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and an accused in the Pune ISIS module case, died in a Delhi hospital on Saturday, days after suffering a brain haemorrhage, an official said.
Nachan (67), a resident of the Padgha area in Bhiwandi taluka of Maharashtra’s Thane district, had been admitted to a private hospital in the national capital for the last four days, the official said.
In 2023, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had carried out searches at Padgha as part of a nationwide crackdown on the terror outfit ISIS and arrested several persons, including Nachan.
The ex-SIMI office-bearer, who was lodged in the Tihar prison, was taken to the hospital on Tuesday (June 24) after his health deteriorated, the official said.
Doctors later confirmed that he had suffered a brain haemorrhage, he said.
His condition worsened on Saturday, and he died at 12.10 pm, the official said.
His body will be handed over to his family after post-mortem, and his last rites will be performed on Sunday at Borivali village near Padgha, he said.
When it arrested Nachan in 2023, NIA had said that he was allegedly actively involved in promoting terrorist activities of the ISIS, a designated foreign terrorist organisation.
It had also claimed that he was allegedly involved in the fabrication, training and testing of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) for the commission of terrorist acts.
Nachan had been working in collaboration with the other accused as part of the conspiracy, also called the Pune ISIS module case, the federal agency had said.
In the beginning of the week his son and lawyer had gone to see him in hospital, sources said.
Nachan was convicted in 2016 for his role in bomb blasts in 2002-03 in Mumbai. After completing 10 years of imprisonment, he was out, the official said.
In 2023, Nachan was arrested by the NIA along with several others for alleged involvement in terrorist activities, including fabrication of improvised explosives devices aimed at furthering the terror agenda of the proscribed outfit ISIS.
As per NIA, Nachan was the main accused and the self-declared leader of the arrested group and had assumed the right of administering the 'Bayath' or oath of allegiance to the self-styled 'Khalifa' of ISIS to persons joining the banned organization.
As per probe agencies, the accused had declared the village as a "liberated zone" and the hub of their alleged anti-national activities.
In the first week of June, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) conducted a massive search operation at 22 places in Borivali, Padgha and detained several suspects, including Nachan's kin, who were later allowed to go after questioning, the official said.
"Two separate cases were registered in connection with these searches, which were based on specific inputs that Nachan and his associates had brainwashed and instigated people from the village to participate in anti-national activities," he said.
An ATS statement issued at the time had said the searches were part of steps taken in the wake of the April 22 Pahalgam attack in Jammu and Kashmir to nab anti national elements that can provide logistic support for terror related activities.
Meanwhile, the police have stepped up security in Padgha and neighbouring Bhiwandi, considering that Nachan’s final rites would be held there, an official said.
“We are keeping a tab on the situation,” said a police official.
(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)
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