Court clears 8 men accused of being part of SIMI

In the first case to be registered against members of SIMI in the city, the Kurla police had nabbed the eight accused the same day the Centre banned the terrorist outfit on September 27, 2001.

According to the complainant, he was informed about the group’s headquarters being situated in Kurla. The complainant explained that an office near Fitwala compound had a board outside a house which said SIMI with a map of earth along with the inscription, “We be the helpers of Allah”. Once in the room, he saw the eight of them (the accused) and one of the accused, Irshad Khan (41), a civil engineer, claimed to be the group’s president. It is the case of the prosecution that the eight accused possessed pamphlets stating, ‘how to join SIMI’, a jihadi book, a poster of Osama Bin Laden and other incriminating materials.

The defence lawyer, Sharif Shaikh, argued that as per procedure the notification of the Centre’s decision to ban the outfit was sent to the Mumbai police a day later. “As per procedure the notification should be sent to the office in question and also made public,” Shaikh argued.

Moreover, Shaikh said that this order could help Siddiqui and Ansari, accused in the blast case. “As the prosecution’s main contention of them being arrested earlier for being SIMI members is on shaky grounds with this order, this could help strengthen the duo’s defence of being falsely implicated in the case,” Shaikh said.

The eight accused, immediately after being granted bail in the case, were arrested again a day later for allegedly shouting slogans against the country and Mumbai police along with four others in the vicinity. During their cross examination in the court, the eight accused argued that , “The police, instead of releasing us, took us back to the police station and prepared a false case against us.”

Amongst the middle-aged eight accused, most of them were either civil engineers or businessmen based in Thane.

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