Court grants bail to ‘IS recruit’, stays order till March 27 for NIA to move HC

A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Tuesday granted bail to Areeb Majeed, a Kalyan resident who was accused of travelling to Syria and joining

A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Tuesday granted bail to Areeb Majeed, a Kalyan resident who was accused of travelling to Syria and joining terrorist organisation Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

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However, Majeed will not be released immediately after special public prosecutor Sunil Gonsalves, for NIA, sought a stay on the order granting bail, so as to challenge it before the Bombay high court (HC). The court accepted the plea and stayed the order till March 27.

Majeed has been released on a personal bond of ₹1 lakh. Besides this, the special court has directed Majeed to visit the NIA office once every week. Majeed has been asked to submit proof of his visit to the office in his next hearing.

The court has said that if he fails to comply with the condition, an arrest warrant will be issued. If arrested again for non-compliance, the court will not consider granting him bail again.

Majeed had moved a bail plea before the HC after the same was rejected by the NIA court. Majeed had pleaded that he has been in custody for more than five years. The HC had directed him to again approach the NIA court and the court was asked to consider the plea afresh.

The NIA has claimed that between August and October 2014, Majeed had participated in several attacks perpetrated by ISIS, in which he had sustained bullet injures on two occasions and was seriously injured in bombing. After these incidents, he started planning his return to India. The agency alleged that he had planned to return through Turkey.

Accordingly, on November 24, he had approached the Indian embassy in Turkey. Majeed said he needed to go back to India and had lost his passport. From Turkey, he boarded a Turkish airline to “sneak in” to India. However, , he was apprehended when he reached the airport, the agency claimed.

According to the charge sheet filed by NIA, Majeed was influenced by ISIS and had started downloading and watching online videos of ISIS since January 2014. It was here he became more curious about the objectives and activities of the organisation and contacted people attached to the group through social media.

The agency alleged in his search for more information, he came in contact with Fahad Shaikh. The agency claimed that Shaikh in his conversation with Majeed had revealed that the Twitter handle in the name of @magnetgas was operated by him, which he used for propaganda.

The agency claimed that Shaikh and Majeed continued their discussion through social media and also met frequently. The agency has claimed that Shaikh and Majeed, along with Shaheem Tanki and Aman Tandel, formed a group and used to meet frequently. They then planned to join ISIS and went to Iraq through a ‘Jiharat package’, for which they paid ₹2,37,500.

The agency claimed that during the tour, they had gone to the shrine of Abdul Qadir Jilani. Here, according to the agency, they had contacted two persons through their Iraq numbers, namely Rehman Daulati, an Afghan national and Abu Fatima, an Iraq national. Fatima later helped them join ISIS camp. According to the charge sheet, they were taken to Jhazira camp for joining ISIS on the instruction of Fatima.

In the Jhazira camp, after induction they were given new names — Abu Ali Al Hindi for Majeed, Abu Utmam al Hindi for Shaheem, Abu Bakar Al Hindi for Fahad and Abu Umar Al Hindi for Aman. In the camp, they were given training for advance arms and ammunitions, claimed the charge sheet.