NIA to file case against terror groups IS, al-Qaeda

Amid reports about Indian youths joining Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has sought Union Home Ministry's permission to register a case against the terror group and al-Qaeda.

The NIA plans to file an “open case” under various provisions of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the United Nations Convention on terrorism claiming that ISIS was brainwashing youths for terror activities, sources said.

Such a case would also enable the government to declare ISIS a banned organisation, sources said.

ISIS, led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has been running a reign of terror in Iraq and Syria. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has put the number of ISIS cadre at 50,000 fighting in Iraq and Syria.

Reports had claimed that four youths from Maharashtra have joined ISIS and one of them was killed.

Purported video

The NIA also wanted to register an FIR against al-Qaeda and drew the attention on the purported video from the global terror organisation.

NIA said al-Qaeda, in its recent India specific video, had asked Indian Muslims to fight against alleged oppression in the country and hence, it is a fit case to file the FIR under the UAPA.

In the video, al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri announced the setting up of a dedicated wing to wage war in the Indian subcontinent by recruiting Muslims from hotbeds like Kashmir, Gujarat and Assam.

Though the security apparatus was of the view that Zawahiri's 55-minute video was a “statement of intent” as al-Qaeda is fast losing plot in the middle-east to the terrorists of Islamic state, home ministry has asked states to be on high alert as there could be attempts to recruit youths into the terrorist-fold.