BENGALURU: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has announced a bounty of Rs 3 lakh on credible information leading to the arrest of absconding Abdul Matheen Ahmed Taahaa, a resident of Shivamogga district who is wanted in Al-Hind ISIS Bengaluru module case, an NIA spokesperson said.
The module is behind the murder of a Hindu leader in Tamil Nadu, he said adding, “Taahaa is an accomplice in the case and he is a friend of the accused.”
The ISIS-inspired terror group was reportedly formed by Mehboob Pasha, Khaja Moideen alias Jalal and their associates, who are said to be involved in the murder of the Hindu leader. “Pasha had conducted several meetings at his residence in Guruppanapalya in Bengaluru in 2019 to hatch the conspiracy. He radicalised and recruited other co-accused to carry out terror activities and join the proscribed jihadi outfit in Afghanistan and Syria,” the officer said.
The 12 accused, arrested so far in the ISIS Bengaluru module case, are Pasha, Imran alias Imran Khan, Mohammed Haneef Khan, Mohammed Mansoor Ali Khan, Saleem Khan alias Kolar Saleem, Hussain Sharieff, Ejaz Pasha alias Azaz Pasha, Zabiulla, Syed Azmathulla, Syed Fasiur Rehman, Mohammed Zaid and Sadiq Basha.
“Taahaa is a friend of Saleem and Zaid, through whom he contacted Mehboob Pasha of ‘Al-Hind Trust,’ Bengaluru, and was also associated with his online foreign handler,” the NIA spokesperson said. Taahaa is a resident of Fish Market Road in Theerthahalli of Shivamogga. The NIA had filed an FIR on January 10 at the Suddaguntepalaya police station in Bengaluru for wantonly giving provocative statements with an intent to cause riots.