Before itsproscription, SIMI enjoyed a close working relationship with the Jamaat-e-Islami(JeI) in Bangladesh and its students' wing, the Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS).Over the years, while old linkages have continued, a new nexus has beenestablished with the Harkat-ul-Jehad-al Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B).Investigations into the July 28, 2005, Shramjeevi Express explosion near Jaunpurand the Varanasi serial blasts of March 7, 2006, indicated a role played by SIMIansars (full-time cadres) and the HuJI-B's cadres/agents. The primeconspirator of the Varanasi blasts, thirty-two year Waliullah, the Pesh Imam ofPhulpur in Allahabad, who was arrested on April 5 near Gosainganj, on theoutskirts of Lucknow, was a SIMI ansar who had earlier been arrested in2001, along with three of his brothers, on charges of harbouring terrorists.Mohammad Zubair, a resident of Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh, who was involved inthe attacks in Varanasi's Sankatmochan Temple and the Railway Station and wassubsequently gunned down in the Handwara area in the Kashmir Valley, was also aSIMI cadre. Babu Bhai, the man behind the Shramjeevi Express blasts near Jaunpur,was, again, a SIMI ansar who received training at an ICS-run trainingcamps in Ukhia, Bangladesh.