The head of ISIS operations in India and a former leader of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), Saquib Abdul Hameed Nachan, 57, died on Saturday afternoon, June 28, at Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital.
According to reports, he was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday following a deterioration in his health. Doctors diagnosed a brain haemorrhage soon after his admission, and he remained under observation for four days before succumbing to his condition at 12:10 pm, hospital officials said.
Who is ISIS head Saquib Hameed Nachan?
Nachan had been lodged in Tihar Jail since 2023 after being arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with the alleged ISIS Delhi-Padgha module. He is a resident of Padgha in Maharashtra’s Thane district. Nachan was a prominent figure in SIMI during the late 1990s and early 2000s, before the group was banned in 2001 for anti-national activities.
His name gained national attention during the investigations into the 2002–2003 Mumbai bombings, including those at Mumbai Central, Vile Parle, and Mulund that killed at least 13 people and injured over a hundred. He was convicted under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) for illegal arms possession, including an AK-56 rifle, and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was released in 2017 after receiving remission for good conduct.
In 2023, Nachan was arrested again, this time as the prime accused in an ISIS-linked terror case that spanned Delhi and Maharashtra, with the NIA alleging his leadership in a wider jihadist conspiracy.
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