Police get 5-day custody of three suspected IS sympathisers

A court here Thursday granted police five days custody of three suspected IS sympathisers who had allegedly conspired to stage terror attacks on temples and churches in the city.

Three days ago, police had submitted a petition in the Principal District Court seeking eight days' custody of the accused who were arrested under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for interrogation.

According to the FIR registered against the trio, they had conspired to carry out suicide attacks at temples, churches and places where people gathered in large numbers.

Based on inputs, police had kept the three under watch and claimed to have found them watching videos of the Islamic State (IS).

They were arrested on June 15 after a search was conducted in their houses and some digital devices and documents were seized.

The arrest came days after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) raided seven locations in the city and arrested Mohammed Azarudeen, the alleged mastermind of the IS Tamil Nadu module, who was a Facebook friend of Zahran Hashim, the mastermind of the Easter Sunday suicide bombings in Sri Lanka.

They were earlier remanded to judicial custody till June 28.

When the petition came up Thursday, principal district judge R Sakthivel Thursday allowed police to take them into custody for five days.