SHIVAMOGGA: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday chargesheeted one more accused, while filing additional charges against two others, in the Shivamogga ISIS conspiracy case, relating to writing of graffiti in Mangaluru, in support of proscribed terror outfits Islamic State (IS), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and the Taliban.
The NIA stated in a press release on Friday that in its second supplementary chargesheet filed in the case, it has charged Arafath Ali, and filed additional charges against Mohammed Shariq and Maaz Muneer Ahmed in the case RC-46/2022/NIA/DLI.
Arafath, who had radicalised and hired the other accused for writing graffiti on the wall in January 2020, was arrested by the NIA at the Terminal 3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi, on his return from Kenya on September 14, 2023. He had earlier fled to Dubai in anticipation of his arrest in another case (the Al-Hind module case) for his association with two absconding accused, Abdul Matheen Taha and Mussavir Hussain Shazeb.
It was on the instruction of Matheen and Hussain that Arafath had indoctrinated Shariq, Maaz Muneer and others to write graffiti in support of terror and terror outfits at two places in Mangaluru, NIA investigations have revealed.
It was further found that Arafath, along with his associates and an online handler, was part of a larger conspiracy to further terror activities of ISIS. Arafath had paid the graffiti writers funds received from his online handler in the form of cryptocurrency.
The NIA had earlier filed one main and one supplementary chargesheet against nine accused, including Shariq and Maaz Muneer. Further investigation is under way.