Continuing its crackdown of the ISIS module after an arrest in Delhi, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday arrested a suspect in Punjab’s Ludhiana.
The NIA team, along with the Punjab police, conducted a raid in the wee hours at Madhni Jama Masjid in Ludhiana’s Meharbaan area from where they detained a maulvi at a mosque. He was identified as Mohammad Ovesh Pasha, who is just 23-year-old.
As per reports, the NIA team has seized no weapons from him, but reportedly seized some literature. The NIA team also took away the DVR of the nine CCTV cameras installed in and outside the Masjid.
Sources informed that Pasha is suspected to be a part of ISIS module, busted in Uttar Pradesh. He had come to Ludhiana seven months ago, and become the youngest maulvi in masjid. As per the mosque staff, Pasha was not even having an Android-enabled phone.
Hailing from Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur, Pasha was earlier studying in a madrasa in UP where he got in touch with the ISIS operative.
Pasha’s name was nominated in a case under sections 17, 18, 20, and 39 Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, besides 120 B, 121 A, 122 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 4 and 5 of the Explosive Act.
Similar raids were also conducted at seven places in the western Uttar Pradesh on Thursday in connection with the investigation of the recently registered case of ISIS inspired module.
Madhni Jama Masjid chairperson Sikandar Altaf maintained that over 25 persons of NIA and Punjab Police raided the masjid and detained the maulvi Mohd Ovesh Pasha, and also confiscated mobile phones of the masjid staff.