Online recruitment case: NIA chargesheets Pakistani woman among 3 Lashkar-e-Toiba aides

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) Wednesday filed the first supplementary chargesheet against three Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives, including an absconding Pakistani woman, in an online recruitment case registered last year in West Bengal.

The chargesheet was filed in the NIA special court, Kolkata against Tania Parveen alias Isranoor and Refite of Malayapur-Baduria (North 24 Parganas), Sayyad M Idris alias Munna of Anganavadi (Karnataka), and absconding accused Ayesha alias Ayesha Burhan and Ayesha Siddiqi of Gali Brahwali village of Sargoda in Punjab (Pakistan), an NIA spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said the case was initially registered on March 18 last year at the Baduria Police Station in North 24 Parganas district following the arrest of Parveen, a member of the proscribed Pakistan-based terrorist organisation.

The NIA had re-registered the case after taking over the investigation on April 5, 2020 and had already filed a chargesheet against Parveen under various sections of the stringent UA(P) Act.

"Parveen was a college student and was radicalised and recruited in cyberspace by Pakistan-based cadres of LeT. She was co-admin of various social media groups espousing secessionist ideas on Kashmir with accused Ayesha Burhan, a Pakistan-based cadre of LeT's women's wing," the spokesman said.

The spokesperson said Parveen in association with other accused members of LeT in India and Pakistan indulged in unlawful activities, radicalised, recruited and motivated other people through cyberspace for a violent 'Jihad' (holy war) against India.

"She and other accused were brainwashing impressionable youth and propagating the ideology of LeT, thus conspiring to wage war against the State," the spokesperson said as more charges were framed against her in the latest chargesheet.

On Apr 15, the NIA arrested schoolteacher Altaf Ahmad Rather from his residence in north Kashmir's Bandipora district in the case.

"Investigation has revealed that Rather is a schoolteacher in Bandipora and was a sympathiser of the LeT. Parveen had come in contact with him over social media platforms and he was instrumental in introducing her to LeT members based in Pakistan, in pursuance of a conspiracy to radicalise, motivate and recruit youths for violent 'Jihad' (holy war) on India," the NIA had said.

However, Rather was not named in the chargesheet as further investigation in the case is still going on, officials said.