NIA files charge sheet against five accused in Islamic State Khorasan Province case

The case was initially registered by Delhi Police Special Cell on March 8, 2020, after the arrest of Kashmiri couple - Jahanzaib Sami Wani and his wife Hina Bashir Beigh from their rented accommodation in Okhla Vihar, Jamia Nagar in Delhi, but NIA re-registered the case on March 20 and took up the investigation.

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New Delhi: The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) on Wednesday (September 2, 2020) filed a charge sheet against five accused persons in NIA Special Court at New Delhi in connection with the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) case. 

The accused have been charge-sheeted for their affiliation with the proscribed terrorist organization ISIS/ISKP and for conspiring to create disaffection against the Government of India, promoting enmity among different religious communities and for committing subversive activities.

As per reports, the charge sheet has been filed under sections 120B, 124A, 153A & 201 of IPC and sections 13, 17, 18, 38, 39 & 40 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against the accused the following: 

(1) Jahanzaib Sami @ Dawood Ibrahim @ Xaib @ Abu Muhammed Al Hind @ Abu Abdulla, 36 years, a native of Srinagar (J&K) and presently a resident of Okhla Vihar Jamia Nagar in Delhi.

(2) Hina Bashir Beigh, 39 years, a native of Srinagar (J&K) and presently r/o Okhla Vihar, Jamia Nagar in Delhi.

(3) Abdullah Basith @ Khattab Bhai @ Khattab Khurasani @ Bin Fulan, 26-year r/o Gulshan Iqbal Colony, Chandrayangutta in Hyderabad.

(4) Sadiya Anwar Shaikh, 20 years, r/o Gharonda Society, Phule Nagar, Yerwada in Pune.

(5) Nabeel Siddick Khatri, 27 years, r/o Kondwa in Pune.

Notably, the case was initially registered by Delhi Police Special Cell on March 8, 2020, after the arrest of Kashmiri couple - Jahanzaib Sami Wani and his wife Hina Bashir Beigh from their rented accommodation in Okhla Vihar, Jamia Nagar in Delhi. NIA re-registered the case on March 20 and took up the investigation.

The investigation has revealed that Jahanzaib, a B.Tech from Ferozpur, Punjab, got radicalised and inclined towards ISIS/ISKP by reading about it on the internet. He established contact with ISIS handler Huzaifa-al-Bakistani and latter’s father-in-law (Head of Indian affairs of ISKP) in 2017 on secure messaging platform. Huzaifa-al-Bakistani further introduced him to Abdullah Basith, another ISIS operative, who is already in judicial custody at Tihar jail in connection with another NIA case (ISIS Abu Dabhi Module).

The investigation also revealed that Hina Bashir, who had her higher education from Pune, also got radicalized since 2014-15 by reading ISIS-related content on social media. Jahanzaib and Hina got married in 2017 as both supported the ISIS ideology.

Jahanzaib, Hina Bashir, Abdullah Basith and Sadiya were reportedly continuously in contact with ISIS operatives based in Khorasan and Syria. 

On receiving instructions from ISKP Head Abu Usman-Al-Kashmiri, accused Jahanzaib and Abdullah Basith prepared a magazine titled ‘Voice of Hind’ inciting Muslims against non-Muslims and exhorting them to rise against the Government of India and join ISIS. The magazine eulogises ISIS/ISKP terrorists including Huzaifa-al-Bakistani who was killed in July 2019 in a drone strike in Afghanistan and denigrates the Indian Constitution and democratic system.

Jahanzaib, Hina Bashir, Abdullah Basith and Sadiya were also conspiring to utilize the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests to instigate Muslims against the Indian Government by coining seditious slogans and making graffiti at public places and highlighting the same on social and international media. 

They were also provoking some gullible youth to participate in anti-CAA protests actively. In case these protests failed to provoke the Muslims, they were planning for arsoning of Government buildings & public property so that riots could happen and they could exploit the sentiments of Muslims.

The investigation also revealed that accused Jahanzaib, Hina, Abdullah Basith and Nabeel Siddick tried to make an improvised IED and were planning to carry out mass-killings in crowded places to further the activities of ISIS/ISKP in India. Reconnaissance was got conducted by them of certain sensitive locations in Maharashtra which are frequented by foreigners.

NIA arrested another accused Abdur Rehman @ Dr Brave from Bengaluru on August 17, who was in contact with accused Jahanzaib as part of the conspiracy to promote the activities of ISIS/ISKP and had also visited ISIS medical camp in Syria in 2014. 

The investigation into the activities of Abdur Rehman and other suspects, in this case, is continued.