Arrested by NIA in 2023, the 57-year-old former SIMI leader was in Tihar Jail custody before being hospitalised in Delhi. Doctors confirmed his death at 12:10 pm on Saturday.
New Delhi | June 28, 2025 – Saquib Nachan, the alleged head of ISIS’s India operations and former senior member of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), died on Saturday following a brain haemorrhage. He was 57.
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Nachan passed away at Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi, where he had been admitted four days ago after his health deteriorated while in judicial custody at Tihar Jail. He had been under medical observation since Tuesday. Hospital authorities confirmed that he was declared dead at 12:10 pm.
Nachan, a resident of Padgha in Maharashtra’s Thane district, had previously served a 10-year sentence in connection with the 2002–03 Mumbai bombings, which left at least 13 people dead and over 100 injured. The blasts occurred at major locations like Mumbai Central, Vile Parle, and Mulund station. He was convicted under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) for illegal arms possession, including an AK-56 rifle, and completed his sentence in 2017.
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In 2023, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested Nachan again, this time in connection with a suspected ISIS terror module operating across Delhi and Padgha. He was identified as the key conspirator in the case and had been held at Tihar Jail since.
Authorities say Nachan had become a central figure in radical Islamic networks in India over the past two decades. His death marks a significant development in the ongoing investigation into ISIS-linked activities in the country.
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Saquib Nachan, ISIS India chief, NIA arrest, Delhi Padgha module, brain haemorrhage, Tihar Jail, SIMI, Mumbai bombings, POTA, terrorism in India