NIA Files Chargesheet against 6 in ISIS Coimbatore Case

On 26th February, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed the chargesheet against 6 Islamic militants who had conspired to further the activities of ISIS in India. The chargesheet has been filed at the Special Court for NIA Cases in Chennai.

The perpetrators against whom the chargesheet has been filed are Mohamed Ashiq (25) and Shahul Hameed Khan (31) of Coimbatore, Ismail (25) of Villupuram, Samsudeen (22), Salavudeen (25), Jafer Ali (23) all three residents of Chennai. NIA has charged them under 120B, 143, 153A, 295A and 34 of the IPC besides sections 18, 18-B, 38 and 39 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

The FIR against the accused had been filed at the Variety Hall Police station in Coimbatore in September 2018. The FIR had accused the 5 Islamists of hatching a criminal conspiracy to target Hindu leaders and activists in Coimbatore who have been critical of Islamic terrorism and ISIS. The FIR also mentioned that they were also working to further the activities and objectives of ISIS/ Daesh in the country.

The 6 were arrested on 1st September, 2018 when they had assembled with the intention of conducting further preparations and carrying out terrorist attacks targeting leaders and activists of Hindu organizations in Coimbatore. The same has been mentioned in the press release of the NIA. The Tamil Nadu police had also investigated the Coimbatore blast case and provided the required information to the NIA which helped in further investigation and in preparing the chargesheet against the accused.

The NIA press release further says, “NIA investigation had revealed that the arrested accused persons had got radicalized on the violent extremist ideology of the proscribed terrorist organization ISIS/ Daish and they had been propagating the same ideology over the social media. With the intention of furthering the objectives of the terrorist organization ISIS/ Daish in India, accused persons had organized themselves into a terrorist gang since June, 2018 and conspired to further the activities of ISIS/ Daish by carrying out terrorist attacks targeting persons critical of the proscribed terrorist organization and its violent extremism ideology.”

In December 2018, the NIA has conducted searches at seven places in connection with the case. Based on intelligence inputs, the investigation team of Coimbatore police waited for the accused near the locality surrounding the city’s railway station. When the accused, who had arrived from Chennai in a train, moved into a house, the police team apprehended them immediately. Later, another accused who came to meet them was also arrested by the cops. On interrogation, the arrested had revealed that they had chalked out plans to kill leaders of Hindu Makkal Katchi and Hindu Munnani.

During the searches which were conducted in Chennai, Coimbatore and Tindivanam, the NIA team had seized a large number of digital devices, including mobile phones, SIM cards, memory cards, CDs and DVDs with religious speeches and pen drives, besides unaccounted cash, books and publications with content professing the ISIS ideology.