New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency Monday filed a charge sheet against Faizan Ansari, an alleged member of ISIS’s Jharkhand module arrested last year, under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, officials said.
In a special court in Ranchi, the agency submitted that Ansari was actively involved in propagating the ideology of violent extremism pursued by ISIS, a banned global terror outfit, that has been making efforts to increase its activities across India.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) alleged that Ansari, a resident of Ranchi who was arrested on July 20 last year, had taken an oath of allegiance to the self-styled Khalifa (leader) of ISIS.
“NIA investigations so far in the case have revealed a larger conspiracy with international linkages and the involvement of foreign-based ISIS handlers. Investigations have also exposed a complex network of individuals committed to propagating the extremist and violent ideology of ISIS within India,” an NIA spokesperson said.
She said Ansari was allegedly preparing the groundwork for terrorist activities by recruiting individuals to the organisation and its cause.
“He was found to have created and administered multiple ISIS-aligned cyber groups on Telegram and Instagram platforms for dissemination of terrorist propaganda materials, including ISIS magazines ‘Voice of Hind’ and ‘Voice of Khorasan’ to influence and recruit impressionable youth for carrying out violent attacks in India,” she said here.
Ansari’s associate Omar Bahadur alias Rahul Sen of Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh, was arrested in September last year.
The NIA alleged that together they had conspired to further the unlawful activities of the outfit to strike fear and terror among the people and threaten the security of India as well as its secular ethos, culture, and democratic system of governance.
PTI