Thiruvananthapuram: At least two organisations in the city are suspected have links with the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). The SIMI was banned by the Central Government on the charge that it was supporting terrorist activities and propagating anti-nationalism. The ban was imposed under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1959.

According to State Home department sources, a suspected SIMI activist hailing from Balaramapuram on the outskirts of the city is the State organiser of one of the outfits. The activities of the outfit came to the notice of the State Special Branch police after it organised a camp for a particular segment of college youth in Perumbavoor in Ernakulam district. The police suspect the outfit to be a front organisation run by SIMI workers for recruiting potential activists.

The second organisation publishes a magazine that allegedly promotes SIMI ideology. Another organisation based in Kochi is also suspected to be a front for the SIMI.

According to Home department officials, workers of the banned SIMI have been meeting covertly in different parts of the State to increase their network of associates and sympathisers. The regrouping of SIMI under various front organisations was detrimental to communal harmony and State security. The State Crime Branch is currently investigating whether suspected SIMI activists had any role in the murder of a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) functionary in Kilimanoor last month.

According to official sources, the covert activities of SIMI in the State were given a boost after 25 of its key activists met at Chinthavilappu in Kozhikode in 2005. A religious scholar from Minicoy in Lakshadweep had given discourses with strong fundamentalist messages in Malappuram at the behest of SIMI activists this year.

The police have also information on community "get togethers" organised by SIMI activists in Thrissur and Kozhikode.

The SIMI is also reported to have a women's wing in Kerala. Kerala had witnessed terrorist activity when a bomb exploded on board a train in Thrissur on December 6, 1997.

The explosion was part of a serial blast on board trains in Tiruchi and Erode in Tamil Nadu. The police had named a shadowy organisation based in Tamil Nadu to be responsible for the blast.

"The relative absence of terrorist activity in Kerala does not mean there are no radical elements in the State with the potential for carrying out terrorist attacks," according to a senior Home department official.

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