Islamic State group targeted Kerala RSS leaders, HC judges and senior police officers: NIA tells Court during Kanakamala IS case trial

Kochi: Ansar-ul-Khilafah Kerala, the Kerala unit of Islamic State (IS) had plans to attack senior RSS leaders in Kozhikode to announce its reach in 2016, said National Investigation Agency (NIA) at the NIA court in Kochi during the trial in the Kanakamala ISIS camp case. An ISIS module was busted by security agencies at Kanakamala in Kannur in 2016.

Producing evidence to substantiate the prosecution’s argument, NIA prosecutor Arjun Ambalapatta told the court that ‘the members of a Facebook page named Ansar formed six separate groups on Telegram to discuss Jihad and plan attacks. They first formed a Telegram group named Baab-al-Nur (Gateway to Divine Light) with 25 members.’

NIA had seized the smartphones of the accused and recovered chats in Baab-Al-Nur group from August 12, 2016, to September 9, 2016. “Chats in the group on August 15 was against democracy and the celebration of the Independence Day. They claimed the Independence Day as a celebration of Kaffirs (infidel),” Arjun submitted before the court.

According to NIA, on August 18, an accused claimed that Jihad with Kaffir will help in re-establishing the Caliphate. Currently, the Islamic countries are allies of Kaffirs and these nations could not even implement proper Sharia laws in their countries.

The group members discussed to attack pro-RSS leaders to showcase their ‘reach’ in another chat on August 27.

According to reports, the terrorist group targeted Valsan Thillankeri and other senior RSS functionaries in the state. But they could not act on it due to the presence of police security which was provided to Valsan Master. Valsan Thillnkeri is a senior RSS leader in Kerala and a member of RSS Kerala Prant Karyakari. The prosecutor said the group even discussed attacking two well-known High Court Judges and senior police officer P N Unni Rajan.

As per NIA investigation report, a National Institute Technology (NIT) Calicut graduate Shajeer Mangalasseri Abdullah was the ‘amir’ (head) of the Ansar-ul-Khilafah Kerala, ISIS Kerala module.

He was in touch with the ISIS terrorist leaders from abroad via ‘Telegram’ and other social media platforms. According to media reports, after completing civil engineering in 2002, Shajeer got a job in the UAE in 2004. In 2016, he left for Afghanistan to fight for the ISIS after arriving in Kerala on a two-day leave. Seventh accused in the Kanakamala IS case, Shajeer was killed in Afghanistan in 2016 after the US bombed the Nangarhar province. (With inputs from NIE)