NIA files chargesheet in Tamil Nadu's Ansarullah case

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a supplementary chargesheet against one of the founders of Tamil Nadu's Ansarullah group, a supporter of Al-Qaeda and ISIS, officials said on Wednesday.

The agency has filed the chargesheet against Divan Mujipeer under section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and provisions of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

It is alleged that Mujipeer had conspired with co-accused Mohammed Ibrahim, Mohammed Sheik Maitheen, Meeran Ghani and Gulam Nabi Asath in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to form an extremist religious group -- Ansarullah -- with an intention to establish Islamic rule in India, especially in Tamil Nadu, through violent ''jihad'', the NIA said in a statement.

''They had circulated a magazine named Thozhan for propagating extreme jihadi ideologies of ISIS and Al-Qaeda,'' it said.

The NIA had charge-sheeted 11 people in the case on January 8, 2020.

''The case pertains to a criminal conspiracy hatched by the accused persons and their associates, who had pledged to the violent extremist ideology of proscribed terrorist organizations, including Al-Qaeda and ISIS, and had formed a terrorist gang namely Ansarullah while being in the UAE and in India,'' an NIA spokesperson was quoted as saying in the statement.

The alleged terrorist sympathizers had recruited like-minded young men in their group and conducted religious classes with the aim of waging ''jihad'' (holy war) in India, it said.

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