By Mohd. Ismail Khan, TwoCircles.net,
Hyderabad: The Delhi High Court tribunal constituted by the central government to look into the sixth ban on Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) concluded its hearing in Hyderabad. Headed by Delhi HC Judge V.K. Shali, the tribunal sat on 14 and 15 July at Ranga Reddy Collector office in Hyderabad in order to collect evidence of involvement of SIMI in terror activities in Andhra Pradesh.
Ten top officers of AP police who had overseen cases in which SIMI was allegedly involved, deposed before the tribunal. The cops stated before the judge that SIMI is still active in AP, and is carrying out its alleged illegal activities clandestinely. The police officers who submitted their affidavits to the tribunal were Deputy SP M. Nageshwar Rao, Additional SP B.N.V. Satyanarayana (former DSP Octopus), ACP (SIT) K.R. Nagaraju, Additional SP K. Babu Rao, Inspector General V.C. Sajjanar (special intelligence branch), and police Inspectors, C.Guru Ragavendra, G. Girish Rao, B. Bhaskar, K. Venkateshwar Rao and Sub-Inspector D. Jagdishwar Rao.
Advocate Ashok Agarwal of Delhi High Court represented SIMI in the tribunal. He contended that SIMI is maliciously being implicated by AP police in false cases. To give more force to his contention and to rebut the allegation of senior police officers that SIMI is still carrying out illegal activities, Advocate Agarwal presented two cases in front of the tribunal.
First case was of Viqhar Ahmed who was the leader of a hit gang which used to kill police officers on the eve of Mecca Masjid blast anniversary. Advocate Agarwal contended that police don’t have any proof to link Viqhar or his group with SIMI, but still AP police brought the name of SIMI in all the cases of Viqhar’s gang. He stated this case while cross examining V Satyanarayana, Additional Superintendent of Police (former DSP Octopus) in the tribunal.
Second case which the SIMI advocate presented was the arrest of Baleeghuddin Jaber and Muqeemuddin Yaser (sons of Maulana Naseeruddin). According to Advocate Agarwal, at the time of arrest police claimed their association with Darsgah-E-Jihad-O Shahadat and Tehreek Tahafuz-E-Shuyar-E-Islam which were not banned outfits. But after some time they labeled them as SIMI activists, and AP police allowed Madhya Pradesh police to arrest Jaber and Yaser in a SIMI case related to MP and now both are in Indore jail.
All the ten police officers who presented their affidavits against SIMI in the tribunal were cross examined on their claims about SIMI.
Although the tribunal was open for general public, but even the media was not allowed inside by security guards. On the first day when some journalists found their way in during the cross examination of the police officers, some advocates and police officers created a flurry and objected on the presence of media.
Then Judge V.K. Shali had a brief discussion with his secretaries while urging journalists to sit outside for a while, then Justice Shali overruled the objections of the police officers and allowed media with a request to report fairly on the proceedings.