ISIS module: Four accused remanded in NIA custody till July 10

Four people arrested for promoting terrorist activities on behalf of ISIS have been remanded in NIA custody until July 10. The individuals were in touch with their foreign handlers and were taking directions from them, according to prosecutors. The NIA has recovered incriminating articles, including electronic devices, and is now investigating others involved in the case. The accused were trying to breach the unity, integrity, security and sovereignty of the country and preparing to wage a war against the government of India.

MUMBAI: The special NIA (National Investigative Agency) court on Tuesday remanded the four persons arrested for allegedly promoting terrorist activities on behalf of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in NIA custody till July 10.

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The NIA on Tuesday produced the quartet — Tabish Nasser Siddiqui from Nagpada in south Mumbai, Zubair Noor Mohammed Shaikh from Kondhwa in Pune, Sharjeel Shaikh and Zulfikar Ali Barodawala from Padgha in Thane district, before the special court for remand.

Prosecutors for the federal agency, Sandeep Sadavarte and Shrikant Sonkawde, sought their custody for 10 days, contending that the four accused were in touch with their foreign handlers and were taking directions from them.

Besides, the prosecutors said, the accused had been active in the past two years and were in touch with each other. The agency claimed that it had downloaded all their data from social media profiles and obtained call data records for further probe.

The prosecutors claimed that the agency has recovered several incriminating articles, including electronic devices, from the houses of the accused. They said the agency now needs to check on who are the others involved in the case.

Advocate Rajendra Rathod, who represented Tabish, opposed the plea claiming that his client was young with psychological ailment. “He is on medication already. His is a case of an anxious man who downloaded things from the internet, which are openly available, and not yet banned,” Rathod argued.

Advocate Tahira Qureshi for Sharjeel and Zulfikar argued that Zulfikar and Tabish were related and hence were in touch with each other. Besides, she claimed that they were made to sign blank papers, but they have no intentions of giving any confessional statement.

Advocate Hussain Kazi, who represented Zubair, argued that the case of the agency was based on assumptions, and claimed that there was nothing to connect Zubair to the case.

“The case of agency is that there was a conspiracy. How is that the conspiracy was hatched in open on social media and if so, why should his custody be required,” argued Kazi.

The court after hearing all the lawyers, remanded the four accused to NIA custody till July 10.

According to the NIA, the action was taken pursuant to a specific information received from the ministry of home affairs about involvement of a few accused with the ISIS and based on the information, a case was registered on June 28.

In an operation led by the intelligence, the four accused were arrested after extensive raids conducted by the NIA in Mumbai, Thane and Pune on Monday. The NIA teams also seized several incriminating materials, such as electronic gadgets and several documents related to the ISIS.

The material seized exposed the strong and active linkages of the accused with ISIS and their efforts to motivate vulnerable youth to further the terror organisation’s anti-India agenda, claimed the agency.

According to the NIA, the accused were trying to breach the unity, integrity, security and sovereignty of the country and preparing to wage a war against the government of India, as a part of the ISIS conspiracy, by raising and operating a sleeper cell in Maharashtra.