KOLKATA: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday filed a chargesheet against two ISIS members involved in promoting the proscribed organisation’s terror activities.
The chargesheet was filed against accused Mohammad Saddam alias Saddam Mallick alias Abdul Mallick, and Abdul Rakib Qureshi alias Abdul Raqib Qureshi by the Special Task Force-Kolkata before the NIA court here. They have been chargesheeted under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and sections of the Indian Penal Code.
The duo was arrested by STF Kolkata on January 6 this year for allegedly hatching a conspiracy against the Indian government by collecting arms, ammunition and explosives, and recruiting Muslim youths for carrying out terror acts for ISIS in India and abroad. The STF had initially registered an FIR and NIA had taken over the case a month later, on February 6.
A large quantity of incriminating material, used for propaganda and radicalisation on behalf of ISIS, was seized from the accused. Qureshi was also convicted earlier for life in a UAPA case for his association with SIMI, another banned organisation, NIA sources said.
Investigations showed Saddam had entered into a criminal conspiracy with Qureshi to recruit people, target prominent personalities and send the recruits abroad for executing ISIS-led terror activities. The duo used encrypted social media platforms for communication to evade detection by law enforcement agencies.