NIA charge sheets 11 suspected Al-Qaeda operatives

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday filed a charge sheet against 11 people arrested from West Bengal and Kerala, who were accused of being motivated by the Al-Qaeda to carry out terror strikes to establish an Islamic State in India.

They were also accused of planning to kill an India-based Bangladeshi blogger for his views expressed on social media.

The charge sheet has been filed against Murshid Hasan, Mosaraf Hosse, Mainul Mandal, Lea Yean Ahmed, Najmus Sakib, Iyakub Biswas, Samim Ansari, Abu Sufian, Atiur Rahman, Al Mamun Karnal and Abdul Momin Mandal. They are charged with waging war against India and criminal conspiracy among other sections of the Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Arms Act.

Initially, nine suspected terrorists were arrested from West Bengal and Kerala on September 19 last year in a coordinated action. Two others were picked up from West Bengal on August 26 and November 1 last year.

According to the NIA, Hasan was allegedly in touch with Al-Qaeda handlers based in Pakistan and Bangladesh and had received instructions along with radical propaganda material through encrypted social media platforms.

Hasan along with his associates allegedly "conspired to radicalise and recruit more people into Al-Qaeda and disseminated radical material through social media and encrypted platforms with an intention to radicalise and recruit others to establish an Islamic State by waging violent jihad in India", the NIA claimed in the charge sheet.

It also claimed that investigations had brought to light that the group had "planned to attack individuals they consider 'kafirs' (infidels)" and conducted a "series of conspiratorial meetings for raising funds for the purchase" of arms and ammunition, radicalisation and recruitment of more members and charting future court of action.

The future course of action included setting up a centre for providing religious and weapons training to new recruits, the NIA claimed.

"The accused persons were also in active communication with an arms dealer through their foreign-based handlers and were planning to receive a consignment of sophisticated arms and ammunition in New Delhi," it said in a statement. It also claimed that their "nefarious plans were obviated by their timely arrest" by the NIA.

In September last year, the NIA had said that the module also allegedly had plans to go to Kashmir for weapons delivery. They were also attempting to organise an Al-Qaeda network in the country, including in Kashmir and the north-east on the instructions of the Pakistan-based handlers.

A large number of materials including digital devices, documents, jihadi literature, sharp weapons, country-made firearms, locally fabricated body armour, articles and literature used for making home-made explosive devices were seized from the arrests last year.

The recoveries also included nuts, bolts to give splinter effect in the bomb, battery to provide power to detonator and firecrackers. The module was awaiting instructions from their online handler about who would receive the weapons. Crackers were being attempted to be converted into an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) and the NIA recovered switches and batteries from Abu Sufian's house during the raids.