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NIA arrests Pune doctor in Maharashtra ISIS module case
Dr Adnan Ali Sarkar was taken into custody by the NIA sleuths following raid at his Kondhwa residence in Pune
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday made the fifth arrest in connection with Maharashtra ISIS module case for promoting violent activities of the banned terrorist group. Renowned anaesthesiologist Dr Adnan Ali Sarkar was taken into custody by the NIA sleuths following raid at his Kondhwa residence in Pune.
The NIA in a statement released said that it was the fifth arrest in the case registered on June 28. Four others arrested by the central agency on July 3 after extensive searches were identified as Tabish Nasser Siddiqui from Mumbai, Zubair Noor Mohammed Shaikh alias Abu Nusaiba from Pune, and Sharjeel Shaikh and Zulfikar Ali Barodawala from Thane.
The NIA release stated that during the raid several incriminating materials, such as electronic gadgets and several documents related to ISIS, were found at Sarkar’s Kondhwa house.
The accused, according to the probe agency, hatched a conspiracy to further ISIS terrorist activities, known by different names such as Islamic State (IS)/Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL)/Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)/Daish/ Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP)/ISIS Wilayat Khorasan/Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham Khorasan (ISIS-K), the release said.
Sarkar was trying to disturb the unity, integrity, security and sovereignty of the country, and wage a war against the government of India as part of the ISIS conspiracy through the organisation’s “Maharashtra ISIS module”, as per NIA investigations. The agency said that it will continue to probe the Maharashtra ISIS module case.
Dr Sarkar has an experience of 16 years in treating difficult airway and regional anaesthesia. He completed his MBBS in 2001 from BJ Government Medical College in Pune and MD Anaesthesia from the same college in 2006. He is known to speak English, Marathi, Hindi and German languages. There are 18 publications which he has co-authored with field experts, sources said.
The NIA had issued a statement on July 3 stating to have dismantled an ISIS module in Maharashtra and detained four persons for encouraging terrorist activities in an intelligence-led operation.
NIA raids followed inputs that the accused and their associates had recruited youth and trained them in the fabrication of IEDs and weapons. The accused had also shared material, including “Do it Yourself kits” (DIY), amongst themselves for fabrication of IEDs and manufacture of small weapons, pistols etc. Further, on the directions of their foreign-based ISIS handlers, the accused had created inflammatory media content, which was published in the magazine ‘Voice of Hind’, in furtherance of the banned outfits agenda of terror and violence, said the statement from the anti-terror investigation agency.
Hospital authorities where the doctor worked described Sarkar as one of the best doctors in his field. “He was earlier working with another private hospital, but has been associated with the current hospital as a consultant,” they said.
