A Special National Investigation Agency (NIA) Court in Delhi has handed down a five-year jail sentence to two individuals, Abdullah Basith and Abdul Qadir, for their involvement in promoting the activities of the banned terrorist outfit IS in India. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 on each of them while sentencing them under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, UA(P) Act, and the Explosive Substances Act.
The accused were arrested on August 12, 2018, for their affiliation with the IS Abu Dhabi module and their role in furthering the organization’s violent anti-India agenda. The NIA initiated the investigation into the case in 2016 after details of a serious conspiracy came to light during an investigation in another case. The NIA had found that these individuals conspired to identify, motivate, radicalize, recruit, and train Indian Muslim youths for planning and executing terrorist attacks.
The NIA had filed a charge sheet against them in 2016, and in 2017, they were sentenced to seven years of imprisonment for life. Further investigations revealed that Abdullah Basith was actively propagating the IS ideology, facilitating radicalized youth, and managing meetings to expand the organization’s footprint in India. Mohammed Abdul Qadeer, the other accused, had also supported Basith’s activities in promoting the IS ideology. They were charge-sheeted in 2019.