Ex-SIMI office-bearer Saquib Nachan dies in Delhi hospital

MUMBAI: 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, 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.

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.