BENGALURU: In a startling revelation, the NIA stated before the Special Court in Bengaluru that the social media accounts and documents collected from HAL revealed that Maaz Muneer Ahmed, an accused in the conspiracy hatched to further the activities of Islamic State (IS), had applied for admission to PG Diploma in Aviation Management (PGDM) at the HAL Management Academy, Bengaluru, as per the direction of his online handler ‘Colonel’ to intrude into the defence system of India through HAL.
The data collected and analysed by NIA also revealed that Maaz joined the ‘7 Robotics Online Project-Based Course’ at SKYFI Labs and received a Robotics kit. The other accused, Syed Yasin, joined the ‘Mobile Robotic Online Course’ and received a kit to learn robotics as directed by the ‘Colonel’.
The revelations were made by the NIA in a statement of objections filed to the bail petitions of Huzair Farhan Baig, 22, who was working as a food delivery boy and Rapido rider from Bengaluru, and Mazin Abdul Rahaman, 22, an engineering graduate from Dakshina Kannada.
NIA: Shariq made bomb on directions of ‘Colonel’
The duo was among the eight accused booked after the murder of Prem Singh in Shivamogga in August 2022 for their larger conspiracy. The NIA also revealed that the prime accused, Mohamed Shariq, prepared a pressure cooker bomb on the directions of the ‘Colonel’. The cooker bomb exploded while he was on his way to plant it at Kadri temple in Mangaluru.
On the directions of the ‘Colonel’, the accused targeted goods vehicles, liquor outlets, and paint and hardware shops belonging to the Hindus in Shivamogga, Brahmavar and Surathkal and a windmill station at Honnali. They also shared a video of burning of a tricolour with the ‘Colonel’. The accused used end-to-end encrypted communication platforms, including Session, Protected Text, etc. to hide their identity. They also conducted a trial blast as per the directions of the ‘Colonel’, who provided them funds.
Syed Yasin, an accused, was involved in the commissioning of a trial blast of an IED on the banks of the Tunga and Maaz Muneer Ahmed intentionally possessed and hid the explosives on the banks of the Nethravathi in Mangaluru.
Shariq and Maaz attended a jungle survival camp organised by the Wild Survival Academy in Kodagu. Shariq procured a GPS tracker, which was used by them for location mapping, during the camp. Besides, the team collected documents from the Railways to show that Shariq and Maaz visited Mumbai, where they purchased spy glasses, a high-end torch, binoculars, Swiss knives, etc.