'Establishing Islamic Caliphate In India': NIA Chargesheets Six Men In Radicalisation Case

The National Investigation Agency filed a chargesheet on Friday naming six people for their alleged involvement in the radicalisation of youth in Tamil Nadu for the terrorist group Hizb-ut-Tahrir (HuT). The group was working to establish the Islamic Caliphate in India. This comes 3 days after an NIA court convicted a Bangladeshi national HuT cadre to 5 years of rigorous imprisonment in a terror case. As per the chargesheet, the NIA investigation revealed that the six accused were key members of HuT, and they were tasked with organising recruitment drive meetings with religious heads/ulemas/imams.

According to the NIA's official statement issued on Friday, those named in the chargesheet as key conspirators are Dr Hameed Hussain, Ahmad Mansoor, Abdur Rahman, Mohamed Maurice, Khader Nawaz Sherif and Ahmed Ali. The conspiracy involves the recruitment of Muslim youth and other activities by HuT to propagate its violent jihadi ideology, aimed at establishing an Islamic Caliphate in India and implementing the draft Islamic constitution devised by HuT founder Sheikh Taqi al-Din al-Nabhani, the statement said.

All the accused were in contact with their Pakistan-based HuT counterparts, and propagated their newsletters/articles regarding the violent secession of Kashmir with military assistance (Nusra) from Pakistan, the NIA said in its statement. It further added that they were provided incendiary articles published by the Central Media Office (CMO) of HuT to disseminate.

As part of the conspiracy, the accused intentionally spread false anti-national content and worked to incite discord between groups, aiming to disrupt India's national integration, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, the investigative agency stated. They were also actively engaged in preparations for executing terror acts.

The case was initially registered by the Tamil Nadu Police and later transferred to the NIA in Chennai. (With agency inputs)