NIA probes online campaign to establish Islamic state in India
New Delhi, July 08: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday launched a nationwide search operation in connection with a case of promoting terrorist radicalization ideas online with the aim of establishing an Islamic state in the country.
According to the investigating agency, NIA teams conducted coordinated searches at a total of 20 locations in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Delhi. The NIA took over the investigation of the case from the Vijayawada police in May this year.
The agency says that several digital devices were seized in today’s search. These will be forensically examined to gain further clues about the conspiracy to promote radicalization ideas. So far, 11 accused and one minor have been arrested in this case.
Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh) police originally registered the case in March after a search of the residence of the main accused, Rahmatullah Sharif Mohammed. The search yielded incriminating material related to banned terrorist organizations AQIS (Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent) and ISIS (Islamic State).
The NIA has found that the arrested accused and their associates were influencing vulnerable youth across the country with jihadist ideology through violent jihadist material and misinformation. The accused were also in online contact with their foreign handlers. Their objective was to propagate jihadist ideology and further an anti-India conspiracy, which aimed to destabilize the country and establish a ‘Caliphate.’
