NIA files charge sheet against two in ISIS sympathiser case

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a charge sheet against two persons -- A S. Bava Bharuddeen(42) of Mananrgudi in Tiruvarur district and J. Ziyavuddin Baqavi (41) of Kumbakonam in Thanjavur district for favouring ISIS.

Police said that Thideer Nagar police station in Madurai had registered a case against one Mohammed Iqbal, for sharing social media posts favouring ISIS and he had allegedly provoked youths against Indian democracy and government.

The NIA later took over the case in April 2021 from the Madurai police and on further investigation found that Mohammed Iqbal was a member of an Islamic outfit Hizb- Ut- Tahrir which was an affiliated unit of ISIS.

NIA in the investigation, according to sources in the agency, found that he was involved in radicalising youths to establish an Islamic state and enforce a draft constitution written by a radical Islamic preacher, Taqi- al-Din- al- Nabani.

On further investigation, the investigating agency found that Bava and Baqavi were working in tandem with Mohammed Iqbal and were into recruiting youths across the state for establishing an Islamic State under ISIS. The duo was also found to have been involved in radicalising and indoctrinating the youths.

The charge sheet also states that both Bava and Baqavi had used several social media sites to establish new cells in the state for establishing ISIS.