The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday filed an indictment against five agents from the Islamic State’s (ISKP) Khorasan province, including a Kashmiri couple: Jahanzaib Sami and Hina Bashir Beigh for allegedly conspiring to use the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). instigating Muslims against the Indian government and planning to start fires to cause riots.
The agency said the couple were conspiring to create unrest during protests against the CAA by coining seditious slogans and graffiti in public places and highlighting the same on social and international media.
The couple, along with others, had also conducted reconnaissance at prominent places in Maharashtra frequented by foreigners and attempted to manufacture an improvised explosive device (IED) to carry out mass killings, the agency said in a statement.
Jahanzaib Sami (36) and his wife Hina Bashir Beigh (39), both from Srinagar, were the first to be arrested in the case in March this year by the Delhi Police Special Cell of Okhla, after which the investigation was turned over to the NIA. .
Abdullah Basith, a key ISIS manager in India based in Hyderabad, and two others from Pune, Sadiya Anwar Shaikh (20) and Nabeel Siddick Khatri (27), were later detained by the central agency.
NIA spokeswoman Sonia Narang said in a statement: “The investigation has revealed that Jahanzaib, a B.Tech from Ferozpur, Punjab, became radicalized and leaned towards ISIS / ISKP when reading about it on the internet. He established contact with ISIS handler Huzaifa-al-Bakistani and the latter’s father-in-law, viz. Abu Usman-Al-Kashmiri (ISKP Chief of Indian Affairs) in 2017 on a secure messaging platform. ”
“Huzaifa-al-Bakistani further introduced Abdullah Basith, another ISIS agent, who is already in judicial custody at Tihar Jail in connection with another NIA case (ISIS Abu Dhabi Module case 2018),” Narang said .
“Hina Bashir, who got her higher education in Pune, was also radicalized from 2014-15 by reading ISIS-related content on social media. Jahanzaib and Hina got married in 2017 because they both supported the ideology of ISIS, ”he added.
The agency said that Jahanzaib, Hina Bashir, Abdullah Basith and Ms. Sadiya were continuously in contact with ISIS operatives based in Khorasan and Syria.
“Upon receiving instructions from ISKP Head viz. Abu Usman-Al-Kashmiri, accused of Jahanzaib and Abdullah Basith prepared a magazine titled ‘Voice of Hind’ inciting Muslims against non-Muslims and exhorting them to rise up against the government of India and join ISIS. The magazine praises ISIS / ISKP terrorists, including Huzaifa-al-Bakistani, who was killed in July 2019 in a drone strike in Afghanistan and denigrates India’s constitution and democratic system, ”Narang said.
“Jahanzaib, Hina Bashir, Abdullah Basith and Sadiya were conspiring to use the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) to incite Muslims against the Indian government by coining seditious slogans and graffiti in public places and highlighting the same in social and international media. They were also provoking some gullible young people to actively participate in the anti-CAA protests. In case these protests failed to provoke Muslims, they were planning to burn down government buildings and public property so that riots could occur and exploit Muslim sentiments, “he added.
“Jahanzaib, Hina, Basith and Nabeel Siddick tried to make an improvised explosive device and were planning to carry out mass killings in crowded places to promote ISIS / ISKP activities in India. The recognition was made by them of certain sensitive places in Maharashtra that are frequented by foreigners, ”said the agency.
Last month, the agency arrested another person, Abdur Rehman alias Dr. Brave from Bengaluru in the case, who was in contact with Jahanzaib as part of the conspiracy to further ISIS / ISKP activities and had also visited the medical camp of ISIS in Syria in 2014. He will be charged later.
MS Khan, a lawyer for the Kashmiri couple, said: “The agency is making a mountain out of a molehill. There is no evidence in the case. Everything is a bunch of lies ”.
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