NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Saturday extended the judicial custody of Islamic State suspects Mufti Abdus Sami Qasmi and Azhar Iqbal till March 30.
Qasmi, a Delhi-based Islamic scholar, known for his fiery speeches, was arrested on February 5 from Uttar Pradesh’s Hardoi District.
The NIA has claimed that Qasmi had been ‘delivering provocative and inflammatory speeches and was instigating youth for anti-national activities’.
While other suspect 23-year-old Azhar Iqbal was arrested from Bhopal on February 1 by the NIA.
According to the agency, Iqbal was allegedly in the higher category of members of the group -Junoon al Khilafae-Hind, as he was tasked with finding new recruits.
It is learnt that he was in touch with Yusuf al-Hindi alias Shafi Armar, who was an Indian Mujahideen member but shifted to the IS- held areas in Syria and Iraq.
Iqbal knew at least two of the four suspects arrested by the Delhi police from Uttarakhand a few weeks back.