On the run for 18 years in a rioting case, a top functionary of banned outfit SIMI was arrested by the Gujarat police on Thursday night from his residence in Uttar Pradesh's Azamgarh town, police said on Friday.

Shahid Badra, former national president of the Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), was on the run for the past 18 years after a case of rioting was lodged against him in 2001 at the 'A' division police station of Bhuj town of Kutch district, said a release by the Kutch police.

At that time, Badra (50) was booked under sections 147 (rioting), 143 (unlawful assembly), and 353 (assault on public servant) of the Indian Penal Code, the release stated.

Based on a specific tip-off about Badra's whereabouts, a four-member team of Kutch police raided his residence in Azamgarh on Thursday night and nabbed him, the release said. The process to bring Badra to Bhuj was underway, it added.

Around eight FIRs of similar nature have been lodged against Badra in different cities, including Delhi, Gorakhpur, Azamgarh and Bahraich, the release said.

SIMI was established on April 25, 1977, in Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh. The organisation allegedly works on the agenda of liberating India by converting it into an Islamic state.

The organisation was first declared an outlawed outfit in 2001. Since then, it has been banned on several occasions by the Centre for its alleged involvement in a series of terror acts and subversive activities in the country.