Delhi-Amroha ISIS module case: NIA files charge sheet against 10 accused

The National Investigative Agency (NIA) on Friday filed a charge sheet against ten accused in Delhi-Amroha ISIS module case.

"The charge sheet has been filed against Mufti Mohd Suhail, Anas Younus, Zubair Malik, Rashid Zafar Raq, Md Saqib, Md Absar, Said alias Saeed, Md Gufran, Md Faiz and Naim under Section 120 B, 121, 121A, 122 of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 17, 18, 18B, 20, 21, 23, 38 and 39 of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and Sections 4, and 5 of Explosives Substances Act, and Sections 25, 26 and 29 of the Arms Act," said the NIA in a press release.

According to NIA, an investigation against three more accused is underway.

NIA had registered the case in December 2018 against Mufti Suhail and others, alleging that Suhail has formed an ISIS module with others to commit terror activities and the module is amassing weapons and explosives.

"They had named this module as 'Harkat-ul-Harb-E-Islam' (Movement for War of Islam). This group owed its allegiance to ISIS and wanted to establish an ISIS Caliphate in India by resorting to large scale terrorist attacks in and around the National Capital Region," the release read.

NIA had seized 12 pistols, 163 assorted ammunition, one improvised missile launcher, 98 mobile devices, phones, 25 kg of explosive chemicals, hardware, electronic materials including 120 alarm clocks to make IEDs, and incriminating books, material recovered from the accused during the searches at 17 locations in December last years in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.

NIA investigation revealed that accused Suhail and other co-accused persons entered into an alleged "criminal conspiracy to wage a violent Jihad against the government by use of weapons and explosives to establish an ISIS Caliphate in India."

"The module was being guided by three ISIS handlers based abroad. The module made extensive use of encrypted social media applications/chat platforms. These have been recovered from their mobile phones," the release read.

Suhail, who was the mastermind of the group, was also giving radicalization sermons to the other members of the module wherein he exhorted them to offer themselves for the "violent Jihad against infidels in India."

"The mobile phones of accused persons contain a gh amount of ISIS propaganda material. These include execution videos, violent Jihadi anthems, videos, audio proclaiming solidarity with Kashmiri terrorists, audio messages by an ISIS handler, and radicalisation sermons of Maulana Masood Azhar, chief of Jaish-e-Muhammad, Abdus Sami Qasmi, another accused in an NIA ISIS related case, and Asim Umar, alleged chief of Al-Qaida in the Indian subcontinent," read the release.