Key ISIS terror suspect Mohammed Zoheb Khan (40 years), a central figure in the ISIS Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar terror module, was remanded to the custody of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) by the Special NIA court on Friday for his alleged involvement in an ISIS terror operation planning to targeting various establishments and vital installations.
The court remanded Zoheb to NIA's custody until 1st March.
Findings of NIA investigation
NIA shared their investigation with the court, stating that Zoheb is highly educated, holding a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and technically skilled working as a web designer. However, under the guise of being a web designer, Zoheb was involved in radicalising and recruiting gullible youth, both in person and over social media, to join ISIS and promote its violent ideology. He was found sharing incriminating videos of 'Bayath', along with materials related to violent jihad and Hijrah to Syria.
According to NIA he was in touch with an Afghanistan-based ISIS handler to further the activities of the global terror network, both in India and abroad, and was planning to move to Afghanistan to join the ISIS Khorasan module. Demanding custody, NIA stated that they need his custody to extract chats and recover several encrypted messages between the Afghanistan-based ISIS handler and Zoheb.
NIA also aims to identify the different social media profiles that were active with several identities used by Zoheb, and extract chats to identify the recruited youth who were radicalized by Zoheb through online propaganda operations of ISIS
Defence argues innocence
However, defence lawyer Vansant Prabhu informed the court that the accused is not linked with any terror outfit. He was planning to migrate from India to Afghanistan legally and for that purpose, he is in touch with some local people in Afghanistan. He has already contacted the Indian embassy and is also in touch with the Afghanistan embassy to facilitate his migration.
Accused's brother joined terror outfit years ago
According to reliable sources within the agency, Mohammad Shoaib, the brother of the arrested accused Mohammed Zoheb Khan, left the country several years ago and joined ISIS in Syria. He is currently considered one of the most-wanted terrorists in India and is in contact with his brother, the arrested accused Zoheb Khan. During the investigation of NIA It has been revealed that the arrested individual, Zoheb reportedly pledged allegiance to the ISIS Khalifa and devised plans to target various establishments and vital installation points before fleeing the country to join the ISIS terror outfit.
According to sources, the NIA found a money trail linking him to funds received from the ISIS network. Sources said that during the investigation, Zoheb revealed that he first linked up with ISIS handlers and their Indian associates through Telegram. He found the link on Telegram and, upon clicking it, accessed the ISIS operation base network. However, he did not disclose the name of his handler, the individuals he recruited, financial transactions from ISIS operatives, and especially his absconding brother Shoaib's contact and their terror operations plan against india.
