Gujarat Police arrest ex-SIMI chief from Azamgarh in 18 year old case 

After almost 18 years of registering a case against Shahid Badr, former chief of the Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), a banned terrorist organisation, a team of the Gujarat Police arrested him here on Thursday.

A senior Azamgarh Police officer told IANS, "A four-member team of the Gujarat Police arrived here on Thursday and arrested Badr from his home in the Karbala area."

The Gujarat Police informed the Uttar Pradesh Police that Badr was arrested in connection with a case registered in the Kutch district of Gujarat in 2001 for delivering an "inflammatory speech", he said.

A Gujarat court had issued a warrant against Badr in 2012 in connection with a case under sections 353 (criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 143 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code.

On the delay in the arrest, he said the the Gujarat Police didn't have his address. "After confirming his address, they arrested Badr from his house on Thursday night and brought him to us at the Kotwali Police Station," he said.

The Gujarat Police would produce him before an Azamgarh court to seek transit remand to take him to Gujarat, the police officer said.