Four activists of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) were arrested on Tuesday after they were picked up from near a graveyard in Jabalpur's Madra Tekri locality by officials of the Madhya Pradesh anti-terrorist squad and local police.

One of the four, Inamur Rehman, was wanted by the Rajasthan ATS since 2008. “Inamul has been charged under Sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and is a suspected of being a member of banned organisations, in this case the Indian Mujahideen,” Rajasthan IGP ATS Alok Tripathi.

A resident of Gulshan Nagar in Khandwa, Inamur was also wanted by the Madhya Pradesh Police. He was once arrested for anti-national activity, but went underground after he was released on bail in 2006. The general secretary of SIMI’s MP unit, he was actively working to rebuild the proscribed organisation’s network even in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh.

An arrest warrant had also been issued against Amjad Ramzan, a resident of Mission Compound in Khandwa. The other two, Azad alias Azam Nazir and Shaikh Afroz Shaikh Nizamuddin, are residents of Gohalpur in Jabalpur.

ATS chief Pavan Shrivastava said Inamur Rehman was a prize catch for the Rajasthan Police, while Inamur and Amjad are considered close to SIMI’s former treasurer Mohammed Ali and Indian Mujahideen’s Kayamuddin Kapadia.