In an investigation linked with Omar Al-Hindi Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) Module case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday raided two locations – one in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore, and the other in Kerala's Alappuzha, as per an ANI report.
On 29 March, a chargesheet was filed in the case against six arrested suspects as well as absconding suspect Shajeer Abdullah Mangalassery, who was allegedly the mastermind behind the criminal conspiracy and was allegedly responsible for creating the terrorist outfit to propagate the ISIS’s India-centric agenda.
The chargesheet was filed under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The sections under the IPC are 120B, 121 and 122, and those under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act are 17, 18, 18B, 20, 38, 39 and 40 .
A probe had allegedly revealed that Mangalassery had migrated from the UAE to an ISIS-dominated area in Afghanistan, in June 2016. Following the arrest of the accused in October 2016, Mangalassery allegedly used the online identities of Abu Ayisha or Sameer Ali to radicalise youth, and initiate them into the ISIS, using social media platforms. Moreover, he has also been allegedly persuading them to engage in jihad in India.
The NIA conducted raids at the homes and workplaces of these persons.
Tip-offs divulged that radicalised individuals were likely to support and propagate ISIS’s goals.
On the basis of warrants issued by the Special NIA court, Ernakulam, the raids conducted saw the confiscation of several mobile phones, laptops, hard disks, pen drives, DVDs/ CDs, memory cards, SIM cards and documents, including books and manuscripts.
Of the three people whose premises were raided, one has acknowledged being in frequent contact with Abdul Rashid Abdullah, an accused in the other ISIS-related NIA cases, as per the ANI report. The suspects are currently being interrogated by the NIA to verify facts about those involved in this case.
(With inputs from ANI)
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