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Man inspired by Lanka blasts plotter arrested, wanted to launch suicide attack in Kerala: NIA

The man identified as Riyas Aboobacker or Abu Dujana, a resident of Palakkad, was picked up on Sunday in connection with the Kasaragod ISIS module case in the South Indian state.

SNS | New Delhi | April 30, 2019 11:22 am

Man inspired by Lanka blasts plotter arrested, wanted to launch suicide attack in Kerala: NIA

Representative Image (Photo: File)

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday arrested a man, said to be a follower of Sri Lankan Easter bombing mastermind Zahran Hashim, on charges of conspiring to commit a terrorist act in Kerala.

The man identified as Riyas Aboobacker or Abu Dujana, a resident of Palakkad, was picked up on Sunday in connection with the Kasaragod ISIS module case in the South Indian state.

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During interrogation, Riyas revealed that he has been following speeches/videos of Hashim for more than a year and has also followed the speeches of controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik.

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He admitted that he wanted to carry out a suicide attack in Kerala, an NIA spokesperson said.

He has also disclosed that he has been in online contact with absconding accused Abdul Rashid Abdulla, aka Abu Isa, for a long time and has been following his audio clips including the clip which he had circulated on social media platform instigating others to carry out terror attacks in India.

He revealed that he was also having online chat with Abdul Khayoom, aka Abu Khalid, (accused in Valapattanam ISIS case) who was believed to be in Syria.

Zahran Hashim, of whom Riyas is a follower, died in an attack on a Colombo hotel on Easter Sunday. He appeared in a video released by the ISIS group after they claimed the bombings.

Security forces had been on a desperate hunt for Hashim, believed to be around 40, after the government named the group he led — the National Thowheeth Jama’ath — as its prime suspect.

Riyas will be produced before the NIA court in Kochi on Tuesday.

The NIA earlier received inputs that a group of four persons has been in contact with some of the accused viz Abdul Rashid, Ashfaq Majeed, Abdul Khayoom etc who had already migrated to Afghanistan and Syria.

After verification, NIA carried out searches at three places (two in Kasaragod and one in Palakkad District) on Sunday.

The probe agency also recovered incriminating evidence from the houses raided.

Mobile phones, SIM cards, memory chips, pen drives and handwritten notes in Arabic and Malayalam were among the material recovered in the raids.

Three group members have been interrogated for their ISIS links and their plans.

The NIA is probing the disappearance of 21 people from the state in May 2016. They are believed to have travelled to Syria and Iraq to join the barbaric terror group.

While 17 of them were from Kasargod, four were from Palakkad. Among them were six women and children.

Reports say that some of them may have died in the coalition attacks on the terror group that led to its fall.

The NIA raid came seven days after an Islamic State splinter group, National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ), targeted three churches and three hotels in Sri Lanka killing 253 and injuring around 500. Among the dead were 11 Indians.

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The Kerala High Court, on Thursday, granted bail to M K Nasar, one of the individuals convicted by the special NIA court last year in the case of chopping the hands of Professor T J Joseph in 2010. A division bench comprising Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan and Justice P V Balakrishnan suspended Nasar’s sentence and granted conditional bail to him after considering his appeal against the NIA court’s conviction in the case Considering the prolonged detention and citing the potential for trial delays, the court suspended Nasar’s sentence and granted conditional bail, taking into account that some co-accused with similar allegations had already been released after serving shorter terms. The court noted that he had already spent nine years in jail and that delays in resolving appeals could justify suspending a convict’s prison term. It also observed that other accused in the case had received lesser sentences and had already been released after serving their terms. “The applicant has been undergoing incarceration, at the pre-conviction and post-conviction phases, for over 9 years. Furthermore, the fact that the accused facing the same allegations were earlier imposed a lesser term of imprisonment and have been released after having undergone the sentence is a factor that cannot be ignored. Additionally, the appeals filed by the NIA against the findings of the learned Sessions Judge are being considered in separate appeals, which have not yet been taken up. “There is also the likelihood of delay, as the prime accused has surrendered, and the learned Sessions Judge may have to take up the trial and dispose of it in accordance with the law and some of the original records may be required for that purpose. In view of these facts and circumstances, we are of the considered opinion that the sentence imposed on the applicant can be suspended pending the consideration of the appeal.” The court said The court, however, imposed strict conditions for Nasar’s bail. He is not supposed to provide a bond of Rs 1 lakh with two sureties, refrain from leaving the country without the court’s permission, avoid interfering with the trial or witnesses, and not commit similar offences while on bail The gruesome incident dates back to July 4, 2010, when Joseph, a professor at Newman College, Thodupuzha, was returning from Sunday mass with his family, members of the now-banned Popular Front of India (PFI) attacked him, allegedly in retaliation for a question paper he set, which contained a passage that they claimed insulted Prophet Mohammed was derogatory. His right hand was chopped off in this attack. Nasar was accused of playing a critical role in the attack. Investigations revealed his involvement in recruiting gang members, assigning specific tasks, collecting funds, procuring communication devices, and maintaining communication links with key conspirators.

The Kerala High Court, on Thursday, granted bail to M K Nasar, one of the individuals convicted by the special NIA court last year in the case of chopping the hands of Professor T J Joseph in 2010.