New Delhi: In its ongoing investigation in an online radicalisation case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) searched 20 locations across nine states and one Union Territory on Wednesday and seized digital devices.
The case relates to alleged attempts to promote the ideology of ISIS and Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and establish an Islamic state in India through violent jihad.
“Searches were conducted in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Delhi as part of the agency’s ongoing investigation in the case,” an NIA spokesperson said in a statement, as reported by Indian Express.
Several digital devices were seized during the operation and those will be sent for forensic examination to gather further evidence about the alleged conspiracy, the spokesperson said. Eleven people have been arrested in the case so far. A minor has also been apprehended.
The investigation was taken over by the NIA from the Vijayawada police in May this year. The police booked the case in March after a search at the residence of a key accused, Rehmatullah Sharif Mohammad, allegedly led the recovery of incriminating material linked to the banned terrorist organisations AQIS and ISIS, the spokesperson said.
“All the searches today were based on a detailed technical analysis of digital devices seized earlier, connectivity analysis of the arrested accused, and other findings gathered during the investigation,” the spokesperson added.
The arrested accused and their associates were engaged in indoctrinating vulnerable young people across the country through violent jihadi content and misinformation, the agency has claimed.
The accused were also allegedly in online contact with foreign handlers to spread jihadi ideology and further an anti-India conspiracy, the spokesperson said, adding that the NIA is working to identify others allegedly involved in the conspiracy to destabilise the country and establish a caliphate.
