While the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed charges against six accused linked to the Maharashtra ISIS module, more details have emerged showing how they were trying to establish a Muslim state in the country.
The charge sheet mentions that the six accused used the e-mail IDs of Islamic State — [email protected] — for communication through which they conveyed that they had taken Bayat (solemn promise) pledging allegiance to Abu Bar Al-Baghdadi as their Khalifa in in 2016. The e-mail IDs used communication then were [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected].
The accused found these e-mail IDs, social media handles and Telegram ID ‘Nashir-Al-Hind’ and ‘Sawat-Al-Hind’ mentioned in the Islamic State magazine ‘Voice of Hind’ (Issue number 27, published in May 2022).
The magazine also mentioned that the IDs used by ISIS were — Ghazi (Telegram ID) @eastern ghazi’, [since May 2023] and Formula One (Telegram ID) @trusted145 [Since Feb 2023]. Apart from these handles, WhatsApp groups by the name of Ali, Prophet Alaihum Salam, Meem were used to spread ISIS propaganda.
The charge sheet also states that the accused had incriminating material of ISIS and CDs of Anwar al-Awalaki, a Muslim scholar, who was killed in 2011 in Yemen in the US drone strike. ‘Unity in Muslim Ummah’, a WhatsApp group, was used to post messages related to violent jihad, support to Khilafat, videos of al-Awalaki, ISIS ideology, and anti-nationalism, anti-democracy and anti-National Flag.
Further investigation by the NIA has revealed that accused number 1 in the case, Tabish Siddiqui visited Kupwara in Kashmir in 2018 for a week. Later, he sent an e-mail to ISIS updating the situation in Kashmir and a plan to create an establishment there.
Tabish Siddiqui also gave lectures (Dars) at Ahmed Building in Byculla in Mumbai. Dars were also being held in Kondhwa (Pune) to recruit more people to join ISIS. These lectures were being held under the guise of Arabic language lecture at Al-Fala Masjid at Kondhwa in Pune during 2011-12. Apart from that, he spoke about the Quran at Jyoti Hotel and other Islamic topics in Brahma Estate at Kondhwa in 2014-15. Under the garb of Dars on religious topics, he showed his support in public on violent Jihad, revival of Khilafat and Hijrah in the Pune Central School (PCS) Library, Pune.
The accused in this case planned to commit terror acts in India to show support to ISIS, for which they would often visit Padgha in Maharashtra in 2021-22.
NIA charge sheet mentions a literature by the accused that read “Padgha would be Al-Sham as there are 95% Muslims; they have their own ‘elders’ whom they go to for disputes instead of the Shirki courts. Masjids and school have remained open there throughout the coronavirus pandemic (based upon the opinion from a Hadith that there is no such thing as contagious in Islam but Qadr of Allah), Tawheed, Jamah and jihad is openly preached there”.
This content was mentioned by Tabish Siddiqui in an e-mail to the Islamic State ([email protected]) on January 2, 2021.
Further, he wrote that his relative in Padgha-Borivali invited him, mentioning that “want to go to Mulk Shaam, come to us”.
‘Mulk Shaam’ is the Arabic term for Greater Syria region that is called in English the Levant or the eastern Mediterranean, including the modern countries of Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Cyprus and Turkey’s Hatay Province. Chhoti Masjid at Padgha-Borivali was used to hold meetings and recruit youngsters to join ISIS.
The charge sheet in the case also makes a reference to the case filed by the NIA Bangalore earlier, wherein there was a group called Ummah News during the protests of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the end of 2019. That group used to spread rumours on attacks on Muslims across India during the CAA and NRC protests in order to instigate Muslim youngsters. This would help them establish that India is not a safe country for Muslims and that the government was anti-Muslims.
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