Lucknow, July 13 (IANS) Even as the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) is widely suspected to be behind Tuesday's serial blasts in Mumbai, the Uttar Pradesh government Thursday gave the organisation a clean chit. At the same time West Bengal promised to crackdown on SIMI in Bengal.

While declining to comment on the prevailing ban on SIMI, Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav told reporters: "Well, there have been two major terrorist strikes in Uttar Pradesh ever since we formed the government and be it Ayodhya or the Varanasi blasts, SIMI was not even remotely involved."

Mulayam's younger brother Shivpal Yadav, who is the minister for public works and agriculture marketing, asserted that SIMI was not a terrorist organisation.

"Let the centre first ban all terrorist organisations, then talk about SIMI," Shivlal Yadav pointed out.

"Let me tell you, even I was once accused of being a SIMI agent," he quipped.

On June 23, the chief minister's office in "larger public interest" had issued directives for withdrawal of serious criminal cases against at least a dozen SIMI activists, facing trial for inciting communal riots in Kanpur in 2001.

The violence had left 16 dead, including a senior district official.

Significantly, the recommendation for withdrawal of cases against the SIMI activists was made by a ruling Samajwadi Party leader Surendra Mohan Agarwal, who as chairman of a public undertaking, enjoys the status of a cabinet minister.

On being asked to comment, Agarwal said: "You know, about 700 people were hauled up in connection with the 2001 riots and some of them were surely innocent. So I wrote to the chief minister only to ensure that no innocent got nailed."

While state police chief Bua Singh declined to speak on the subject, Principal Home Secretary Satish Kumar Agarwal said: "The ban on SIMI was imposed by the central government under the provisions of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 and we are monitoring it very closely."

Contrary to the government stand, the home secretary said: "We have even carried out raids at certain places to ensure effective imposition of the ban."

He refuted some media reports that a SIMI module from Kanpur forwarded the lethal RDX used in the Mumbai blasts that killed around 200 people.

Meanwhile The West Bengal government Thursday said it would launch a drive against the banned Students Islamic Movement of India.

"SIMI is a banned organisation. It has no overground office here, but we will have a crackdown on them," West Bengal Home Secretary Prasad Ranjan Roy told reporters here.

SIMI is alleged to have a well-knit network in West Bengal, which shares a 2,216-km porous border with Bangladesh.

Five people, including two SIMI activists, were arrested for the removal of railway sleeper clips from the tracks in the Kumardubi-Barakar section in West Bengal in September 2003.

SIMI activist Hasib Raja was arrested for possessing 500 gm RDX in Kolkata on Mar 18, 2002. He was allegedly planning to blow up the Howrah Bridge.