KOCHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) will seek inputs from the Delhi police on Shahjahan Velluva Kandy, a Kannur native and IS sympathiser arrested from New Delhi, over his links with other IS persons from Kerala.
The NIA suspects Shahjahan maintained contacts with the perosns who left for Afghanistan from the state and with some arrested from Kanakamala last year.Shahjahan, a PFI activist, travelled twice to Syria via Turkey allegedly for joining IS. However, he was deported on both occasions after security agencies in Turkey intercepted him there.
“The decision to arraign him as accused in the IS case registered in Kerala will be taken based on the facts revealed during the investigation by the Delhi police. There will be information sharing between the NIA and the Delhi police in this regard. It is claimed the arrested person had links with the people who had left for Afghanistan and some arrested from Kanakamala. This will be confirmed by the Delhi police soon,” an NIA officer said.
Meanwhile, the Delhi police are yet to charge the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act(UAPA) against Shahjahan. Offences under UAPA which come in the scheduled list of NIA Act enable the national agency to directly take over the case investigation. “Currently, only offences likely forgery and possession of fake passport are registered against Shahjahan. It is for the Delhi police to find out whether UAPA should be invoked against the accused,” the officer said.
Intelligence agencies had put Shajahan under surveillance after security agencies in Turkey deported him to India while attempting to travel to Syria in February.Currently, NIA investigates five cases related to IS in Kerala.