4 alleged IS men charge-sheeted

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Mumbai filed a chargesheet on Monday against four alleged ISIS members accused of carrying out terror activities in India.

The anti-terrorism squad had registered an FIR against the accused at Kalachowki police station in December 2015 after officials received information that Ayaz Mohammed, a resident of Malwani, was coaxed by unknown people to join the ISIS and wage war against nations that are on friendly terms with India.

The charge sheet has been submitted against the four accused — Rizwan Ahmed (20), resident of UP, Malad residents Mohsin Sayyed (27) and Ayaz Mohammed (24), and Yusuf Hindi, a resident of Karnataka. All the accused persons have been charged under IPC 120-b with Sections 18, 20, 38 and 39 of the Unlawful Activities Act 1967.

The NIA mentioned in the charge sheet that it has been established during investigations that the accused Yusuf Al hatched a conspiracy between July 2015 and December 2015 — along with Ahmed, Sayyed and Mohammed — to instigate, motivate and radicalise vulnerable Muslim youth from the Malwani area of Malad to join ISIS. NIA officials said they have proof that these four accused people had used numerous social networking platforms to attract the attention of likeminded persons and motivate vulnerable youngsters to join the banned international terror organisation.

The officials further said that they have mentioned that Mohammed went to Iraq via Afghanistan and joined the ISIS. From there, he was in contact with the other accused and they relayed his messages to youngsters in India to join ISIS. Ahmed was also a member of SIMI and Jundul Khilafa Al Hind (JKH). All the accused made elaborate preparations and went to Chennai to collect funds. They prepared fake IDs and used these to conceal their real identity before spreading their messages.