LUCKNOW: With the Mumbai police assessing possible links of the banned Student Islamic Movement of India with the serial bomb blasts the Uttar Pradesh Government on Wednesday said several hideouts of SIMI activists had been raided since the organisation was banned.

Principal Secretary (Home) S.K. Agarwal and Director-General of Police Bua Singh told reporters here that the security agencies were alive to the activities of the organisation, which was reportedly functioning under a different name.

A team of Mumbai police is reported to have left for Uttar Pradesh for gathering details of the involvement of Lashkar-e-Taiba modules and SIMI in the blasts. However, the State Police Chief said the Mumbai police had not contacted their counterparts in Uttar Pradesh. Mr. Singh said it was for the Mumbai police to assess the SIMI link, and added that antecedents and activities of several persons identified for their dubious links were being monitored. He refused to divulge the details.

SIMI was banned by the Central Government in 2001 and subsequently a notification was issued by the then State Government. The notification was for a particular period and a fresh notification had to be issued for continuing the ban on the organisation.

As regards acts of terror and the local links of terrorist groups, Mr. Singh said in the past specific incidents had taken place in U.P., which underlined the sensitive nature of the State. Starting with the bomb blasts on roadways buses in Western U.P. in 2004, the terror attack in Ayodhya, the blasts in Sankat Mochan temple and Varanasi railway station to the bomb blasts on Shramjeevi Express, U.P. was not immune to the problem, he said.

The DGP said effective measures had been taken by the Special Task Force to smash the terrorist modules in the State.

Regarding the red alert following the Mumbai blasts, Mr. Agarwal said he held a meeting with senior police and intelligence officials, including the DGP last night, in which necessary directives were given to the DMs, SSPs, DIGs and divisional commissioners.

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