Banned terrorist outfit Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and other right-wing majoritarian groups are training its cadres in terror camps on Indian soil, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.
“In two cases investigated by anti-terror agency National Investigation Agency, evidence has surfaced that training camps were organised by SIMI and right-wing majoritarian groups or their cadres,” Minister of State for Home Affairs RPN Singh told Rajya Sabha.
In a written reply, Singh said the NIA had arrested 33 accused belonging to SIMI and 26 suspects in right-wing majoritarian terror cases. Charge-sheets have been filed in the concerned courts, Singh added.
In March, the NIA arrested SIMI operative Manzar Imam from Jharkhand. Manzar had participated in secret SIMI training camps at Vagamon in Kerala’s Kottayam district in December 2007, when he and the other accused underwent training in firing, tough terrain driving and the preparation and use of explosives. He also reportedly attended Jihadi classes to wage war against the country, the reply said.
In 2011, the NIA had charge-sheeted 30 hard-core SIMI activists for attending terror camps. Apart from Kerala, the outfit had conducted camps at Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, he added. Although SIMI was banned by the Home Ministry in 2001, the outfit functions through front organisations.
In 2012, the Home Ministry had said that at least four organisations-Tehreek-e-Ehyaa-e-Ummat, Wahdat-e-Islami, Tehreek-Talaba-e-Arabia, Tahrik Tahaffuz-e-Shaaire Islam are front groups for the banned SIMI.