Maharashtra ISIS module case: NIA searches house of accused Shamil Nachan, gets 'incriminating material'

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On Thursday, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) searched the house of Shamil Saquib Nachan, the sixth person to be arrested in the Pune-based ISIS module case.

According to the NIA official, they recovered "incriminating material" that reveals the terror organisation's "conspiracy to disrupt peace and communal harmony in the country".

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A team of NIA officials searched Nachan's residence at Padgha in Thane district. Nachan, a member of ISIS's sleeper cell, was arrested by the NIA on August 11. "Nachan was found involved in the fabrication and testing of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and participating in IED assembly and training workshops for commission of terrorist acts," the NIA press statement read.

The NIA officials searched Nachan's residence and recovered several mobile phones, hard disks and some hand-written documents that are being examined and analysed, the central probe agency added.

"A host of incriminating material exposing the terrorist organisation's conspiracy to disrupt peace and communal harmony in the country was seized," it said.

"Nachan had been working with the other accused persons arrested in the case - Zulfikar Ali Barodawala, Mohammed Imran Khan, Mohammed Yunus Saki, Simab Nasiruddin Kazi and Abdul Kadir Pathan - along with some other suspects, as part of a bigger conspiracy to trigger violence across various parts of the country by fabricating and exploding the IEDs," the statement added.

Khan and Saki were nabbed by the police in Kothrud area of Pune City last month while stealing a motorcycle. Investigation revealed that the duo was wanted by the NIA in a March 2022 Rajasthan terror plot case, and they were the alleged members of the Al-Sufa outfit who escaped from Ratlam after NIA made some arrests in the case.

The NIA in its statement stated that the investigation in the Pune ISIS module case revealed that Nachan and other members of an ISIS sleeper cell had assembled IEDs at a house in Kondhwa in Pune, where they had also organised and participated in a bomb (IED) assembly and training workshop last year.

"They had even carried out a controlled explosion at this location to test an IED fabricated by them," it added.

"The conspiracy was aimed at committing terrorist acts with the aim to disturb the peace and communal harmony of the country," the agency said.

"The accused had plans to wage a war against the Government of India in furtherance of the ISIS agenda to spread terror and violence with the goal of establishing an Islamic State in India. The NIA has been carrying out extensive raids across India to thwart the outfit's terror designs and plans," the statement added.

(with inputs from PTI)