NEW DELHI: The anti-terror federal probe agency NIA on Saturday conducted extensive searches at multiple locations in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhopal and Rajasthan’s Jhalawar in a terror conspiracy case linked to the banned organisation, Hizb-ut-Tahrir (HuT), officials said.
“Three locations were extensively searched in Bhopal and two in Jhalawar as part of the agency’s continuing probe into the activities of HuT and its members in the terror conspiracy case,” a spokesperson in the NIA said.
The officials said, the raiding teams have seized digital devices during the searches and those are being sent for forensic analysis.
The case is part of the NIA’s efforts to destroy various terrorist and radical networks and outfits trying to spread mayhem across the country, and the present case against HuT is related to the alleged conspiracy of radicalising and recruiting vulnerable Muslim youth.
“The youth were being motivated to spread violence in a bid to overthrow India’s democratically elected government and establish an Islamic State governed by Shariah law,” the spokesperson alleged, adding that the investigation is ongoing.
India last year designated Hizb-ut-Tahrir and all its fronts as "terrorist organisations” under Section 35 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
The government, while banning the outfit, had claimed that HuT aimed to establish an Islamic state and Caliphate globally, including in India, by overthrowing democratically elected governments through jihad and terrorist activities.
The HuT was involved in radicalisation and motivation of gullible youth to join terrorist organisations, such as ISIS and raising funds for terror activities, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had then said.
HuT, founded in 1953 in Jerusalem, is a global pan-Islamic Salafi movement. Its Palestinian branch includes hundreds of members in the West Bank. Their organisation has recently been limited to activities of supporters among students in universities. It views Jihad as an essential aspect of its vision and considers it an imperative duty aimed at combating disbelief until all submit to Islamic rule, the officials said.