The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday, July 8, conducted coordinated searches at 20 locations across 10 states, including Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi, as part of its investigation into an alleged online terror radicalisation network linked to the banned terrorist organisations ISIS and Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).
The searches were carried out in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Delhi. The case was originally registered by the Vijayawada police in March and was taken over by the NIA in May, Times of India reported.
According to the agency, the investigation began after Vijayawada police searched the residence of the prime accused, Rehmatullah Sharif Mohammad, where investigators allegedly recovered incriminating material linked to ISIS and AQIS, The Hindu reported..
The NIA said 11 accused and one juvenile have been arrested so far. They were earlier questioned at the agency’s Visakhapatnam office.
According to reports, the latest searches were based on technical analysis of digital devices seized during the investigation and other intelligence inputs. Officials seized several digital devices, electronic gadgets and documents during the raids, all of which will undergo forensic examination.
According to the NIA, the case relates to an alleged conspiracy to establish an Islamic State in India by promoting the ideology of ISIS and AQIS and targeting the country’s democratically elected government.
The agency alleged that the arrested accused and their associates were involved in radicalising vulnerable youth through online extremist propaganda and misinformation. It further claimed that they maintained contact with foreign-based handlers to propagate extremist ideology and further what it described as an anti-India conspiracy aimed at establishing a “Caliphate” through violent jihad.