NIA files supplementary chargesheet against two in Islamic State sympathiser case

The sleuths of National Investigation Agency (NIA) submitted a supplementary charge sheet against two more persons in an ISIS sympathiser case.

According to police, Thideer Nagar Police Station in Madurai initially registered a case against Mohammed Iqbal alias Senthil Kumar for sharing Facebook posts under the headline ‘Thoonga Vizhigal Rendu’ favouring ISIS. In the post, he allegedly provoked youth against democracy.

Meanwhile, NIA took over the case from the city police in April 2021. During investigation, the officials found that he was a member of extremist Islamic outfit Hizb-ut-Tahrir, an affiliated unit with ISIS.

He was engaged in ‘radicalising’ and ‘recruiting’ youths to establish an Islamic state and enforce a draft constitution written by a radical Islamic preacher (Taqi al-Din al-Nabhani).

In the subsequent days, the NIA arrested two more persons-S Bava Bahrudeen alias Mannai Bava (41) of Mannargudi in Tiruvarur district and J Ziyavudeen Baqavi (40) of Kumbakonam in Thanjavur district.

Bava and Baqavi allegedly organised meetings to recruit members and also conducted secret classes to indoctrinate, radicalise, and motivate youth to work towards establishment of ISIS.

They also conspired to establish new cells in the State through social media in order to spread the ideology.

As the NIA already filed chargesheet against Bava and one other in the case, the officials filed supplementary chargesheet against Bava and Baqavi in the special court in Chennai.