BOMBAY: Mohammed Sakib Abdul Hamid Nachan, former president of the Maharashtra unit of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) was arrested Oct.11 for his alleged involvement in the Kanishka crash of 1984.

Nachan is the third man to be arrested since the nabbing of Manjit Singh alias Lal Singh by the police here in connection with the 1984 crash in the Irish sea, The second man to be arrested was Tahir Jamall Sirat Khan, former general secretary of the SIMI, in the August. The CBI had wanted the Nachan in connection with various terrorist offences in Ahmedabad, Madras and New Delhi including the discovery of some bombs in a farm at Rudghar a few years ago, Nachan has been taken to Ahmedabad to be produced before the TADA designated court there. Tahir and Manjit have already been booked under the provisions of TADA.

The names of Tahir and Nachan were among the list of contacts provided by Manjit Singh. Although Nachan’s precise role is still to be revealed, Tahir’s interrogation revealed that Pakistan had embarked on a long-term plan of organizing Indian Muslims and providing them with arms and money through Sikh militants to create internal disturbances. Indian intelligence agencies have gathered evidence proving that the Sikh militants, Daljit Singh Bitoo and Manjit Singh, some Kashmiri militants and the Afghan Mujahideen had come together at the Pakistani Jamaat-e-Islam JEN) headquarters at Lahore where they offered their ‘services” to militants in India,

Tahir Jamaal visited Lahore in Oct.1986, when he was still general secretary of the SIMI, at the invitation of the jamiat-e-Tulba, the students wing of the JEL, at their annual conference. There he met the JEI president, Mian Tufail Mohammed, and Prof. Khurshid Ahmed, also of the JEL During his fourth visit to Pakistan in November last year he met Amir-ul Azim, publicity secretary of the JEI at Mansoora and was also introduced to Manjit Singh. Manjit had been given the alias of Iqbal Mushahid Hussein by the ISI, complete with identification papers and passport.

Azim gave Tahir $2,000 and instructions to prepare for Manjit’s arrival to Bombay. This money was seized by the CBI after a raid at Tahir’s house in Andheri.

Article extracted from this publication >> October 23, 1992