IS in India: Chargesheets filed against 8 suspected members in Kerala court

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday filed two charge-sheets before a special court in Ernakulam against eight suspected Islamic State (IS) members accused of conspiring to wage war against the country and collecting explosives and other offensive material to target prominent persons and places of public importance in various parts of South India, a statement said.

The eight accused, hailing from Kerala and Tamil Nadu, include Manseed Mehmood, Swalih Mohammed, Rashid Ali, N K Ramshad, Safvan P and Jasim N K, all arrested when they were holding a secret meeting in Kerala's Kannur last year.

Their leader Shajeer Mangalassery is absconding and suspected to be in Afghanistan.

"The investigation has established that the accused formed an ISIS (IS) module that conspired and prepared to target prominent persons, including judges of high court, political leaders and senior police officers besides foreigners on visit to India," NIA said in a release. 

"Members of the module, within and outside India, used online social media platforms, Facebook predominantly, Telegram, in which various secret groups were formed for conspiring and planning the terrorist attacks. The accused persons had tried to radicalise and recruit their friends or associates into the module and had also collected funds for the terrorist organisation," said the NIA release.

Another chargesheet has been submitted against Subahani Haja, who was arrested by the NIA on October 5, after it was revealed that he had left India between April and September 2015 to join the IS.

"The investigation has established that Subahani Haja had joined the ISIS (IS) in Iraq and undergone training with the terrorist organisation before waging war against the Asiatic nation. He returned to India and attempted to procure explosives and precursor chemicals for waging war against the Government of India," added the release.