NIA files charge sheet against 7 men for radicalising youth to be part of terrorist sleeper cell

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday filed charge sheet against seven persons for recruiting and radicalising vulnerable youths as "mujahideens" to operate as terrorist sleeper cells, an official statement said.

They were part of a bigger conspiracy by proscribed terrorist organisation Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) to prepare 50 such sleeper cells in each district of India by 2025, it said.

The sleeper cells were being prepared to carry out guerrilla attacks on Indian soldiers, police personnel and leaders of specific religious organisations, the statement issued by the NIA said.

The accused were also involved in the fabrication of explosives for furtherance of the ISIS goal to establish the Caliphate system in India by waging jihad against the government of India, it said.

"In a major step towards demolishing the ISIS anti-India module network, the NIA on Thursday charge sheeted seven accused involved in the Bellary IS module case," the probe agency said.

 The seven accused, arrested earlier by NIA, have been charged with recruitment and radicalization of vulnerable youth as mujahideens to operate as terrorist sleeper cells, it added.

 Six of them had taken 'bayath' (pledge of allegiance) from their co-accused Md Sulaiman alias Minaj, who had proclaimed himself as Amir of the group created by him, the NIA said.

Besides Minaj, the others named in the charge sheet by the NIA have been identified as Mohammed Muniruddin, Syed Sameer and Md Muzammil, all residents of Karnataka, Anas Iqbal Shaikh, a resident of Maharashtra, Mohd Shahbaz alias Zulfikar of Jharkhand, and Shayan Rehman alias Hussain of Delhi, it said.

The men, who were actively engaged in propagating the ISIS ideology, have been named in the charge sheet under various sections of Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Arms Act and Explosive Substances Act, the NIA said.

According to the NIA, investigations in a case registered in December 2023, the Bellary module was inspired by the separatist and violent ideology of ISIS.

The NIA had, during investigation, seized explosive materials, sharp-edged weapons, digital devices containing propaganda magazines related to jihad, khilafat, fidayeen attacks published by various terrorist organisation including ISIS, and several incriminating documents/data exposing the ISIS roadmap for establishing Islamic rule in India, the statement said.

"The improvised explosive devices prepared by the accused were meant to unleash terrorist violence in various parts of the country, NIA investigations have further revealed," it said.

The accused had already carried out a trial blast in Bellary, Karnataka, and had also been sharing jihad related digital documents/data with other vulnerable youth, the probe agency added.