Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 7: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has achieved a major breakthrough in unearthing ISIS activities in India by arresting a person in Delhi who was claimed to have been raising funds in the country to support the terror organisation.
The NIA on Sunday said Mohsin Ahmed spread the terror group’s propaganda on social media. It added that Mohsin was misleading youths with his ideas.
The NIA on Saturday arrested Mohsin Ahmed, a permanent resident of Patna, from Batla House in New Delhi on charges of being an active member of the Islamic State (IS). He was claimed to be raising funds from the “IS Sympathisers in the country and abroad” and sending the funds to Syria.
Ahmed was arrested after searches conducted at his premises and elsewhere in a case pertaining to “online and on-ground activities of the ISIS” registered by the agency on June 25.
According to the probe agency, he was involved in collecting funds for ISIS from sympathisers in India as well as abroad. He would then send the funds to Syria and other places in the form of crypto currency in order to further the activities of ISIS. He avoided the investigation agencies with his knowledge of technology, said the NIA.
“Accused Mohsin Ahmad is a radicalised and active member of ISIS. He has been arrested for his involvement in collection of funds for ISIS from sympathisers in India as well as abroad. He was sending these funds to Syria and other places in form of crypto currency in order to further the activities of ISIS,” the NIA said in a statement Sunday. Last Sunday, the agency conducted searches at 13 locations across six states in the case
“NIA conducted searches at 13 premises of suspects in 6 states viz. Bhopal and Raisen districts in Madhya Pradesh; Bharuch, Surat, Navsari and Ahmedabad districts in Gujarat; Arariya district in Bihar; Bhatkal and Tumkur City districts in Karnataka; Kolhapur and Nanded districts in Maharashtra; and Deoband districts in Uttar Pradesh in the case pertaining to activities of ISIS,” the NIA had said in a statement then.
The agency had said searches conducted had led to the seizure of “incriminating documents/material”.
On the same day, the NIA had also conducted searches in Thiruvananthapuram district in Kerala in the case pertaining to the arrest of one Sathik Batcha alias ICAMA Sathik, who was arrested in February this year along with four others in Tamil Nadu.
According to the NIA, the accused had hatched a conspiracy for threatening the general public and police officials and also attempted to murder the police personnel during the checking of their Scorpio car when they were intercepted on February 21, 2022.
“The accused persons were also involved in inciting hatred for secession of a part of India and had intended to disrupt the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India by forming outfits like “Khilafah Party of India”, “Khilafah Front of India,” “Intellectual Students of India (ISI)” and associating themselves with the proscribed terrorist organisations ISIS/Daesh and Al Qaeda,” the NIA had said in a statement.
The case was earlier registered by Tamil Nadu Police and later taken over by the NIA this year. The searches led to the seizure of digital devices and incriminating documents, the NIA statement said.
Mohsin is currently being questioned about when he joined ISIS and who were his accomplices. The NIA also sought remand for Mohsin for seven days to investigate the case more.