Safdar Nagori (born 1969) was the General-Secretary of the

Students Islamic Movement of India The Students' Islamic Movement of India (abbreviated SIMI) is a banned terrorist organisation that was formed in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh in April 1977. The stated mission of SIMI is the ‘liberation of India’ by converting it to an Islamic la ...

(SIMI), an Islamist organization designated as a

terrorist organization A number of national governments and two international organizations have created lists of organizations that they designate as terrorist. The following list of designated terrorist groups lists groups designated as terrorist by current and fo ...

by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

. On 27 February 2017, a court in

Indore Indore () is the largest and most populous city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It serves as the headquarters of both Indore District and Indore Division. It is also considered as an education hub of the state and is the only city to ...

sentenced Nagori to life imprisonment for possession of illegal arms, ammunition and explosives, and plotting terrorist activities.

Early life

Nagori was born in Mahedpur village in the

Ujjain district Ujjain district is a district of Madhya Pradesh state in central India. The historic city of Ujjain is the district headquarters. The district has an area of 6,091 km², and a population of 19,86,864 (2011 census), a 16.12% increase from it ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

in 1969. His father Gahiruddhin Nagori worked in the Ujjain Police Crime Branch, and retired at the rank of Assistant Sub Inspector in 2005. Safdar Nagori graduated with a Masters in Journalism from

Vikram University Vikram University is located in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, India. The university was named after the ruler Vikramaditya. It was established in 1957. It was evaluated by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council and was awarded B++ grade ...

, Ujjain in 1999 and was a merit holder. While at the university, he became state president of SIMI. His brother Kamruddin Nagori, was the chief of the SIMI's operations in

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

Beliefs and ideology

In an interview with Sayantan Chakravarty in April 2001, five months before SIMI was banned by the government, he expressed his views. When SIMI was banned in September 2001, Safdar Nagori told

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

Militant activity

Daily News and Analysis ''Zee Media Corporation Limited'' (abbreviated as ZMCL; formerly Zee News Limited) is the news broadcasting company of the Essel Group which is controlled by Subhash Chandra. The company is engaged mainly in the business of broadcasting of new ...

demolition of the Babri Masjid The demolition of the Babri Masjid was illegally carried out on 6 December 1992 by a large group of activists of the Vishva Hindu Parishad and allied organisations. The 16th-century Babri Masjid in the city of Ayodhya, in Uttar Pradesh, had ...

The first FIR against Nagori was filed in Indore in 1998. He was subsequently arrested and then released, after which he went into hiding. In autumn of the 2000, Harun Rashid, Mohammad Sabahuddin and other SIMI cadre drawn by Nagori's network had begun training with the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen in Jammu and Kashmir. Graduates of the training went on to participate in several major terrorist operations. In July 2001, police in Maharashtra,

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

and

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

arrested 23 SIMI-linked terrorists. Four of those held turned out to have trained in

Kishtwar Kishtwar is a town, municipality and administrative headquarter of the Kishtwar District in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The district was carved out of the Doda district in 2007. It is located in the Jammu division. T ...

. SIMI cadre have aided militant groups such as the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...

Lashkar-e-Taiba Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT; ur, ; literally ''Army of the Good'', translated as ''Army of the Righteous'', or ''Army of the Pure'' and alternatively spelled as ''Lashkar-e-Tayyiba'', ''Lashkar-e-Toiba'', ''Lashkar-i-Taiba'', ''Lashkar-i-Tayyeba'') ...

Jaish-e-Mohammad Jaish-e-Mohammed ( ur, , literally "The Army of Muhammad", abbreviated as JeM) is a Pakistan-based: "The JEM is a Pakistan-based, militant Islamic group founded by Maulana Masood Azhar in March 2000." Deobandi: "Deobandis like Masood Azhar ...

and the Harkat ul-Jihad-e-Islami in carrying out terrorist activities. In 2001, Nagori fell out with SIMI leadership. While several SIMI leaders urged the group to abandon terrorism and focus on academic and religious activities, Nagori advocated continuing terrorist activities. Nagori absconded shortly after SIMI was proscribed as terrorist organization by the Government of India on 27 September 2001. He spent a year in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

in 2001–02, before moving to

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

in 2003. Nagori then moved to

Murshidabad Murshidabad fa, مرشد آباد (, or ) is a historical city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located on the eastern bank of the Bhagirathi River, a distributary of the Ganges. It forms part of the Murshidabad district. Durin ...

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

where he would spend the next five years. In Murshidabad, Indian law enforcement officials believe that Nagori was training 200 people for

Mullah Omar Mullah Muhammad Omar (; –April 2013) was an Afghan Islamic revolutionary who founded the Taliban and served as the supreme leader of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. Born into a religious family of Kandahar, Omar was educated at local '' ma ...

, the spiritual leader of the Taliban. Officials also state that his activities in at least five states, suggests that he must have created large local terrorist networks, some of which have been uncovered by the arrests of connected militants. Nagori visited

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...

in early 2008.

Conviction and sentencing

Safdar Nagori was arrested by

Madhya Pradesh Police The Madhya Pradesh Police Department is the law enforcement agency for the state of Madhya Pradesh in India. Organizational structure Hierarchy The Madhya Pradesh Police uses the following ranks: Officers * Director General of Police (DGP) ...

from a flat in Sanyogitaganj,

on 26 March 2008. Ten other SIMI militants, including his brother Kamruddin Nagori, were also arrested in the operation. Following a week of interrogation of the accused, they revealed the location of a farmhouse in Choral, 35 km from Indore, which was used as a training camp by SIMI militants. The police were told the camp trained SIMI members from

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . I ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

and some other states in physical exercise, combat and organisation philosophy. Police found arms, ammunition, radical literature in

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

and explosives at the farmhouse and arrested two more militants. Further investigations revealed the existence of SIMI's women's wing called Shaheen Force. Police also found 122 super-explosive gelatine sticks, 100 detonators and switchboards buried underground in Gawali village. Nagori told investigators that SIMI had about 400 active members and 20,000 supporters. He also stated that SIMI militants received training in Jammu and Kashmir, alongside Hizbul Mujaheedin militants. Militants received training in several types of terrorist operations. Nagori also claimed that he had advocated for the inclusion of more women in SIMI. On 11 February 2013, authorities at

Sabarmati Central Jail Sabarmati Central Jail is the main prison in Ahmedabad in Gujarat. It was established in 1895. Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawy ...

in Ahmedabad, where Nagori was being held, discovered a 213-feet long tunnel that been dug from the prison cells in the Chhota Chakkar area of the jail. The tunnel extended up to the prison's garden. Jail authorities believe that prisoners intended to dig until the underground sewage line and use it to escape. Authorities claim that the attempt would have been unsuccessful as the prison's boundary wall extends 20 feet below ground, while the tunnel had a depth of just 6 feet. On 18 May 2013, Ahmedabad City Crime Branch charged Nagori, and 23 other prisoners, under

Indian Penal Code The Indian Penal Code (IPC) is the official criminal code of India. It is a comprehensive code intended to cover all substantive aspects of criminal law. The code was drafted on the recommendations of first law commission of India established ...

(IPC) sections 130 (aiding escape of state prisoners), 225 (resistance or obstruction to lawful apprehension of another person) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy). All 24 accused are also accused in the

2008 Ahmedabad bombings The 2008 Ahmedabad bombings were a series of 21 bomb blasts that hit Ahmedabad, India, on 26 July 2008, within a span of 70 minutes. Fifty-six people were killed and over 200 people were injured. Ahmedabad is the cultural and com ...

. Nagori, and the 10 other militants, were charged with sedition, possession of illegal arms, ammunition and explosives, and plotting terrorist activities. The laws violated include the relevant sections of the '' Arms Act'', the ''Explosive Substances Act'', the IPC, and the ''

Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act is an Indian law aimed at prevention of unlawful activities associations in India. Its main objective was to make powers available for dealing with activities directed against the integrity and sovereignty o ...

''. They were convicted of all charges by a CBI Court in Indore. On 27 February 2017, special CBI Judge BK Paloda sentenced them to life imprisonment for possession of illegal arms, ammunition and explosives, and plotting terrorist activities. Nagori, along with 17 SIMI militants, was charged by

Kerala Police The Kerala Police is the law enforcement agency for the Indian state of Kerala. Kerala Police has its headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital. The motto of the force is "Mridhu Bhave Dhrida Kruthye" which means "Soft in Temperamen ...

in a separate case for organizing an arms training camp at Thangalpara,

Vagamon Vagamon ( ml, വാഗമൺ) is an Indian hill station and a revenue village primarily located in Peerumedu taluk of Idukki district (majority area including Vagamon town), and also Meenachil taluk and Kanjirappally taluk of Kottayam ...

in December 2007. The case was originally registered in Mundakayam on 21 June 2008, but the investigation was transferred to the

National Investigation Agency The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is the primary counter-terrorist task force of India. The agency is empowered to deal with the investigation of terror related crimes across states without special permission from the states under written ...

(NIA) in January 2010. The NIA chargesheet alleged that the accused participated in a "secret training camp" involving shooting practice, explosives training, besides "classes on jihad in India". On 15 May 2018, an NIA Court in

Kochi Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

convicted Nagori under different sections of the ''Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act'', the ''Explosive Substances Act'' and section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC. Special NIA Judge Kauser Edappagath sentenced Nagori to 7 years rigorous imprisonment. The sentence will run concurrently with his life term.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nagori, Safdar 1969 births Islamic terrorism in India Indian Islamists Living people People from Nagaur Indian Mujahideen members Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by India Indian people imprisoned on charges of terrorism Indian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment People convicted on terrorism charges