Former SIMI man accused of sedition arrested at Varanasi airport

New Delhi, Jan 30: A former member of the Students Islamic Movement of India against whom a Look out Circular had been issued has been arrested, while trying to leave the country.

He was arrested at the Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport in Varanasi. Mohammad Faiz, a resident of Khuda Daadpur village in Azamgarh had reached the airport and was set to board a flight to Sharjah.

When he gave his passport for checking, the officials found that he was a former member of the SIMI and had been barred from leaving the country. There was an LOC issued against him in the year 2001. He has been handed over to the Azamgarh police.

A probe has now been ordered after it was learnt that he had managed to travel abroad in 2015 despite a ban on foreign travel. He has a shop in Saudi Arabia and officials are trying to find out, how he managed to visit the country in 2015-16.

In 2001, he had been booked for intent to cause riot, promoting enmity, imputations, assertions, prejudicial to national integration and statement conducing to public mischief.