ISIS terrorists held meeting in Pune – NIA
New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has submitted before a special court in Delhi that 16 arrested terrorists from Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) had held nine meetings in several meetings across India including one in Pune.
The agency filed a supplementary charge-sheet in the Special NIA Court, Patiala House, New Delhi, on July 19 in connection with the NIA Case vide RC- 14/2015/NIA/DLI (ISIS Case), dated 09.12.2015, against 16 accused persons, namely, Mohammed Nafees Khan (A-2), Mudabbir Mushtaq Shaikh (A-3), Abu Anas (A-4), Najmul Huda (A-5), Mohammed Afzal (A-7), Mohammed Shareef Moinuddin Khan (A-8), Suhail Ahmed (A-9), Asif Ali (A-10), Mohammed Obedullah Khan (A-11), Mohammed Aleem (A- 12), Mohammed Hussain Khan (A-13), Syed Mujahid (A-14), Imran Khan (A-15), Mohammed Azhar Khan (A-16), Mufti Abdus Sami Qasmi (A-17) and one wanted accused, Shafi Armar (A-19), resident of Bhatkal, Karnataka. Two accused persons turned approver and have been granted conditional pardon by the Hon’ble Trial Court, under section 306 CrPC. Earlier, a charge-sheet was filed against one accused, Mohammed Naser (A-1), on 03.06.2016, in this case.
2. The aforementioned case was registered on 09.12.2015 and the raids/searches were conducted on 22.01.2016 across the country in different cities, viz., Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Tumkur, Mumbai, Aurangabad. A total of 18 accused persons were arrested in the instant case and incriminating items/materials, i.e., explosive powder, 02 GI pipes of 2½”, analogue clock, soldering rod, matchboxes, 900 ml Hydrogen Peroxide and Rs. 2,50,000/- Hawala amount were seized from their possession. During the course of investigation, it was revealed that the accused persons had formed an organization by the name of Junoodul-Khilafa-Fil-Hind (a group seeking to establish Caliphate in India with allegiance to the ISIS/ISIL) to recruit Muslim youths to work for the ISIS and commit acts of terrorism in India at the behest of one Yusuf-Al-Hindi @ Shafi Armar @ Anjan Bhai, who is based in Syria and is purportedly the media chief of the ISIS. During the course of investigation, it has been established that Shafi Armar had contacted and interacted on web based social media networks (Facebook, WhatsApp, Trillian, Skype, Surespot, Twitter, Chat Secure, Nimbuzz and Telegram) with a number of accused persons arrested in this case for the purpose of recruitment, preparation of IEDs, identifying places for training and hideouts and, finally, committing terror strikes at various public places and vital installations in India. For this purpose, all the accused persons conducted several meetings and conspired at,
i). Devarayana Dargah, state forest Tumkur, in the month of August, 2015
ii) Deoband in September, 2015
iii) Tumkur Hills in the month of October, 2015
iv) Bengaluru (Suhail’s house) on 24th October, 2015,
v) Bengaluru (Afzal’s house) on 25th October, 2015,
vi) Lucknow (Aleem’s uncle house) on 1st November, 2015,
vii) Hyderabad (Mohammed Shareef’s house) on 14.12.2015,
viii) Pune on 18th December, 2015, and
ix) Hyderabad (Mohammed Shareef’s house) on 15.01.2015, all across India.
3. Scientific evidence in respect of the recovered explosive substances and comparison of voice sample collected in the case has been positive, as per the expert’s opinion. Funds were transferred through Hawala channels and some of the arrested accused fabricated IEDs to commit terror attacks in India. The accused persons also contacted Naxalites to understand their modus operandi in committing terror acts and they also had plans to buy weapons from the Naxalites.
4. The charge-sheet against the accused persons has been filed under section 120B (Punishment of criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 17 (Punishment for raising funds for terrorist act), 18 (Punishment for conspiracy, etc.), 18B (Punishment of recruiting of any person or persons for terrorist act), 38 (Offence relating to the membership of a terrorist organisation), 39 (Offence relating to the support given to a terrorist organisation) and 40 (Offence of raising fund for a terrorist organisation) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (as amended) and section 5 (Punishment for making or possessing explosives under suspicious circumstances) & 6 (Punishment of abettors) of the Explosive Substances Act, 1908.
