Police now hunt for SIMI's female wing

With the arrest of top leaders of banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), the law-enforcement agencies have now set their eyes on its women's wing 'Shaheen Force', a top police source said on Wednesday.

Shaheen Force came into light after the recent arrest of five SIMI workers from Unhel town in Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain district.

Police has suspected the involvement of four women of the banned outfit in the activities of SIMI, but denied that any arrests have been made so far in this regard.

The activists of the Shaheen Force spread the outfit's ideology among the women living in the backward areas in the cities and later enrolled them as outfit members, the sources said.

"There was nothing new in women joining the SIMI till the organisation was banned in 2001. However later it was effectively checked," sources added.

Reports also suggested that the house in Shyam Nagar area where SIMI activists were holed up for a meeting was taken by its head Safdar Hussein Nagori with the help of a woman activist.