Five suspected SIMI men held in MP

The Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) of Madhya Pradesh police captured five suspected SIMI activists from Sendhwa Pathar area of the district following an encounter in the early hours today, a top police official said.

The five suspected SIMI men apprehended in a post midnight operation include - Abu Faizal (from Mumbai), Irfan Nagauri (Mahidpur) and Khalid Ahmad (Solapur), Madhya Pradesh Director General of Police Nandan Dubey told reporters in Bhopal.

An ATS team led by its chief Sanjiv Sami was camping in Sendhwa Pathar area for the last week.

Dubey said Abu Faizal had escaped from Khandwa jail in October this year while two others nabbed were locals, who were yet to be identified.

The five members of the banned Islamic student organisation have been kept under high security at Kharkia Nursery, a forest department rest house in the district.

Inspector General of Police, Indore range, Vipin Maheshwari has reached the site to take stock of the situation.