A court has dropped charges under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) against four Islamic State (IS) suspects arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police in January after a brief exchange of fire.
The case was later transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which filed a chargesheet against the suspects on July 6.
Additional Sessions Judge Praveen Singh, however, found the chargesheet to be “lacking clarity” and specific questions were asked with regard to “availability of evidence.”
In an order dated July 22, the court asked the NIA if it had cited “any evidence with regard to the offences under the UA(P) Act, except the disclosure statements and pointing out memos of the accused.” Charges have also been filed under other sections of Indian Penal Code and Arms Act against the suspects.
An NIA spokesperson did not respond to queries on the court dropping charges under various section of the UAPA against the four suspects. The next date of hearing in the case is August 14.
The accused have been identified as Khaja Moideen, Abdul Samad, Syed Ali Nawas and Jaffar Ali.
Moideen (52) is wanted by the NIA in two other cases asa well. The two cases that were registered by the Tamil Nadu police on December 28 last year and the Bengaluru police on January 10 this year were also transferred to the NIA.
In a chargesheet filed on June 23 against 12 IS suspects in the Chennai case, including Moideen, the NIA said “Investigation of the case revealed that after the release of the key conspirator and ISIS/Daish terrorist named Khaja Mohideen on bail in a case relating to the murder of a Hindu leader from Central Prison, Puzhal, in February, 2019, he had conspired with one Liyakath Ali with the intention of furthering the activities of ISIS/ Daish in India.”
NIA said Moideen and Ali procured a large number of SIM cards that were fraudulently activated by accused Pachaiyappan and Rajesh at Chennai between September and December, 2019.
“In furtherance of the conspiracy, Khaja Mohideen and Mahboob Pasha also procured through the co-conspirators, country-made firearms and prohibited ammunition, besides jungle camping equipment, pursuant to their intention to establish a wilayah (province) of ISIS/ Daish near forests in South India with a view to waging violent jihad on behalf of the global terrorist organization,” NIA said in its June 23 chargesheet.
