Islamic State (ISIS) operative Sadia Anwar Sheikh arrested by the National Investigative Agency (NIA) was planning lone-wolf attacks in Delhi and Jammu & Kashmir.
A team of NIA from Delhi brought Nabeel Siddiique Khatri and Sadia Anwar Sheikh, accused in a case related to activities of ISKP (Islamic State Khorasan Province), to Delhi on July 13. Both were arrested from Pune.
The duo is under NIA custody here and the revelation has come during sustained interrogation, sources said, adding Sheikh was picked up earlier in 2018 but was let off for want of substantive evidence.
The sleuths are also interrogating her on the larger nexus and funding. The two were arrested by the NIA in an ISKP case, including a journalism student, a 22-year-old girl from Maharashtra.
On Sunday, NIA teams carried out searches in Pune and arrested the two accused persons — Nabeel S Khatri (27), resident of Pune, and Sadiya Anwar Sheikh (22) who hails from Phulenagar, Yerwada, Pune — in connection with the ISKP case, NIA spokesperson had said in a statement.
Nabeel S Khatri runs a gym in Pune while Sadiya Sheikh is a 2nd-year student of Mass Communications and Journalism at Baramati.
This case was initially registered by Delhi Police Special Cell on March 8 this year after the arrest of a Kashmiri couple — Jahanzaib Sami Wani and his wife Hina Bashir Beigh from Jamia Nagar, Okhla Vihar, Delhi.
“The couple was having affiliations with ISKP, which is a banned terrorist organisation and is a part of ISIS, and was found to be involved in subversive and anti-national activities. They were also found to be in touch with Abdullah Basith, who is already lodged in Tihar jail in another NIA case (ISIS Abu Dabhi module),” the spokesperson said.
The investigation has revealed that accused Sadiya Sheikh was continuously in touch with Jahanzaib Sami, Hina Bashir Beigh and Abdullah Basith on various secure messaging applications and deliberating on ways to propagate the ideology of ISIS and further its activities in India. They were trying to build up a cadre of ISIS in India by recruiting gullible youth for terrorist activities, the agency further said.
It has also come to light that along with Jahanzeb Sami and Abdullah Basith, accused Nabeel Khatri was also actively involved in the planning to carry out violent terrorist attacks in India by arranging logistic support such as procurement of weapons, fake SIM cards and assembling of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) to further the activities of ISIS in India. He was continuously in contact with Jahanzeb on various secure messaging platforms, the official said.
It has also been revealed that Sadiya Sheikh was in contact with ISIS recruiters through social media since 2015. She was planning to execute a terrorist attack in Jammu & Kashmir and was detained by J&K Police in 2018.
The two arrested accused will be produced before NIA Special Court, New Delhi. Further investigation in the case is continuing, agency added.