Since the Ramadan of 2017, these terrorists from Tamil Nadu planned a violent Jihad

New Delhi, Jan 24: Since the Ramadan of 2017, several meetings were organised in Tamil Nadu in which plans were made to undertake violent Jihad, the National Investigation Agency has said.

In its chargesheet filed against 10 persons, the NIA said these terrorists had formed a Jihadi gang called ‘Shahadat is our Goal.’ The probe into the case revealed that the accused persons were radicalised by violent jihadi ideology.

The prime accused Sheik Dawood and Mohamed Rifas had conspired with co-accused and organised meetings at various places in Tamil Nadu, since Ramadan, 2017, with the intention of radicalising and recruiting the co-accused and others for shahadat (getting themselves killed) to establish Islamic rule in India.

The accused had created various social media groups, especially on WhatsApp and were disseminating materials advocating violent jihad, including the videos and speeches of the Sri Lankan ISIS/ Daish leader Zahran Hashim.

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Accused persons had also prepared pamphlets titled “Shahadat is our Goal” calling for violent jihad to liberate their associates lodged in prisons. In furtherance of the conspiracy, accused Sheik Dawood and Mohammed Rifas had also attempted to carry out terrorist acts by procuring illegal firearms in order to liberate their associates lodged in prisons.

The case was originally registered at the Keelakarai Police Station in Ramnathapuram district of Tamil Nadu after the arrest of accused Mohamed Rifas , Muparish Ahamed and Abupakkar Sithik from Keelakarai. Lethal weapons including swords along with pamphlets pertaining to the terrorist gang were seized from the possession of the accused persons.

Searches were conducted by NIA at the premises of the accused persons in May, 2019 and Mohammed Rashid was identified as an active member of the terrorist gang.

Scrutiny of forensically retrieved data from the seized digital devices and their e-mail and social media accounts, has revealed that the accused persons including Mohammed Rashid, had conducted multiple conspiracy meetings under leadership of Sheik Dawood and Mohamed Rifas with the intention of waging violent jihad in Tamil Nadu, as part of their efforts to establish Islamic rule (Shariah). The accused, in pursuance of the conspiracy, had also attempted to procure illegal fire arms. Further investigations are on.