Pune ISIS case: NIA files fresh chargesheet against four more persons

The National Investigation Agency NIA has filed a fresh chargesheet naming four more accused and adding charges against one accused in the Pune ISIS case the agency said on Thursday reported the ANIAccording to the ANI a total of 11 accused have been chargesheeted by the NIA in the July 2023 case relating to the seizure of arms explosives chemicals and ISISrelated literatureThe supplementary chargesheet was filed before a special court on Wednesday as per the ANIThe four accused chargesheeted have been identified as Md Shahnawaz Alam Rizwan Ali Abdullah Shaikh and Talha Liyakat Khan Additional charges have been filed against Shamil Nachan who was among the seven accused chargesheeted earlier by the antiterror agency the news agency reportedShahnawaz Alam who had escaped from detention after being apprehended during a bike theft in the Kothrud area of Pune in Maharashtra was arrested by the NIA on November 2 last year for his association with the arrested and absconding accused in the ISIS case He was taken into custody and his DNA matching was carried out with the DNA samples taken from the clothes seized earlier by the agency according to the ANIAs per the NIA all the accused were members of the proscribed terrorist organisation ISIS and were involved in the plans to unleash terror in and around Pune in Maharashtra as part of a larger conspiracy to promote the terror activities of the outfit NIA investigations had revealed as per the ANIIt was also found that the accused persons were in touch with their foreignbased handler via secret communication apps They were also raising terror funds by carrying out armed robberies and thefts and were also receiving money from their handlers for carrying out their nefarious designs the NIA said in a statement the news agency reported on ThursdayInvestigations also showed that these men had undergone IED fabrication training at Kondhwa in Pune and had even conducted a controlled blast They had recced the areas of Western Ghats for potential hideouts besides checking out important places for carrying out terror attacks in various metro cities across Maharashtra and Gujarat The accused had even engaged in firing practice while preparing themselves for terrorist strikes the agency said based on its findingsDuring investigations the NIA said it had recovered handwritten notes taken by the accused at the time of their IED fabrication trainingA drone clothes and a knife used during the bayath pledge taken in the name of the Khalifa of ISIS were also recoveredBesides Shamil Nachan the others named in the original chargesheet were Md Imran Md Yunus Saki Kadir Dastgir Pathan Seemab Quazi Zulfikar Ali Barodawala and Akeef Nachanwith ANI inputs