Terror Conspiracy Case: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday got a big shot in the arm in its nationwide crackdown on ISIS, with the agency’s Special Court, Lucknow, convicting eight men in a conspiracy case of planning terrorist acts.

According to the NIA spokesperson, “Investigations in the case had clearly shown that the accused were members of ISIS and had sworn ‘bayat’ (allegiance) to the Islamic State and its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Atif Muzaffar was the group’s Emir (leader) and was influenced by the propaganda of Zakir Naik. He was found to be a frequent visitor of IS-related websites, from where he was downloading content and videos and sharing it with the others in his group”.

Further NIA said, “All eight had come together to propagate ISIS ideology and promote its activities in India. In pursuit of this objective, Mohammad Faisal, Gauss Mohammad Khan, Atif Muzaffar, Md Danish, and Md Saifulla explored land routes. They visited several key cities across the country, including Kolkata, Sundarbans, Srinagar, Amritsar, Wagha Border, Badmer, Jaisalmer, Mumbai, and Kozhikode, for undertaking ‘hijrah’ (migration)”.

The case against the eight accused was re-registered by NIA on March 14, initially, registered on March 8, 2017, at Police Station Anti-Terror Squad (ATS), Lucknow. They had been arrested in the Kanpur conspiracy case in 2017, under various sections of the IPC, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the Arms Act, and the Explosive Substances Act.

The quantum of punishment in the terror conspiracy case will be pronounced by the NIA court on Monday.

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