Agencies 

LUCKNOW, July 16: Uttar Pradesh Governor TV Rajeshwar has pulled up Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav for his defence of the outlawed Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), whose suspected involvement in the Mumbai blasts is under investigation.

Rajeshwar was understood to have shot off a stern letter to Yadav, asking him whether there was any move by the chief minister's secretariat to withdraw criminal cases against SIMI activists. After the 2001 Kanpur riots, which left 16 people dead, around 700 people were taken into police custody, including more than a dozen SIMI activists as well as their chief Aamir. Aamir is lodged in the Kanpur jail.

Taking cognisance of media reports about the chief minister and his minister brother Shivpal Yadav's bid to give a clean chit to SIMI, the governor has sought to know what led them to hold a brief for a banned outfit when a probe was on against the group.  Governor Rajeshwar is believed to have also sent a detailed report to the union home ministry.  Meanwhile, the chief minister is under heavy fire from the opposition for his remarks on SIMI.

"It is a matter of shame that the chief minister is going out of his way to shield an organisation whose militant antecedents and terror links are an open secret," said BJP state chief K N Tripathi.