New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday conducted raids at five locations in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra in connection with the probe into the terror module Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP) for blasts in Coimbatore and Mangaluru last year.
Following up on leads, the central probe agency searched the house of suspects Talha Khan in Pune and Akram Khan in Seoni (Madhya Pradesh).
The case was first registered by Delhi Police Special Cell after the arrest of Kashmiri couple Jahanzaib Sami Wani and his wife Hina Bashir Beigh from Okhla in Delhi. The couple was found to be affiliated to the ISKP. During probe, NIA discovered the role of another accused Abdullah Basith, who is already lodged in Tihar jail in another case.
NIA said it had conducted raids at three other locations in Seoni, which included the residential and commercial premises of suspects Abdul Aziz Salafi and Shoeb Khan.
The probe agency found Mohamed Shariq, Maaz Muneer Khan, Yasin and others, on instructions of their handler based abroad, targeted public and private properties, including warehouses, hardware shops, vehicles, liquor shops and other properties belonging to a particular community. They even carried out a mock IED explosion and were funded through cryptocurrencies by their handler.
According to NIA, Shariq had planned to carry out an IED blast at Mangaluru's Kadri Temple in November last year. But the IED exploded prematurely while the perpetrator was en route the target location.
The NIA also found the role of 40-year-old Seoni Jama Masjid cleric Abdul Salafi and automobile spare parts seller Shoeb, who were allegedly propagating ideas like ‘voting in elections is sinful for Muslims’.
Meanwhile, another group led by Maulana Aziz Salafi was involved in radicalising gullible Muslim youth in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and many southern states through inflammatory speeches on YouTube, NIA said in its statement.
According to the documents seized during the raids, it has been found that the radical group was collecting information about activities in different Jihadi theatres, including Afghanistan.
“They were using social media platforms for dissemination of such false propaganda to impressionable youth. In furtherance of such efforts, Aziz Salafi was also in contact with the arrested accused Maaz Muneer Ahmed of Karnataka, who had procured the explosive materials for the trial blast”, the NIA statement read.