NIA conducts raids at 10 locations in Tamil Nadu in Hizb-ut-Tahrir case
This follows the 2021 arrest of Mohammed Iqbal in the Madurai Hizb-ut-Tahrir case, where he was charged under various sections of the IPC and the UAPA.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted searches at 10 locations across Tamil Nadu on Sunday morning as part of their probe into Hizb-ut-Tahrir, an extremist Islamic outfit affiliated to ISIS. Among the targeted locations were two in Erode district.
“The raids are still ongoing,” ANI quoted people aware of the development as saying.
More information will be available as the situation unfolds.
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The raids follow the NIA's 2021 arrest of an individual after conducting searches at various locations in Tamil Nadu related to the Madurai Hizb-ut-Tahrir module case. The case, initially registered under multiple charges of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 13(1)(b) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, was filed at Thideer Nagar police station in Madurai city.
The primary suspect, Mohammed Iqbal, allegedly used his Facebook account, "Thoonga Vizhigal Rendu is in Kazimar Street," to post content that denigrated a particular community, inciting communal disharmony among different religious groups.
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In March 2022, NIA filed a supplementary charge sheet against two accused persons – Bava Bahrudeen alias Mannai Bava, a resident of Mannargudi in Tiruvarur district and Ziyavudeen Baqavi, a resident of Kumbakonam in Thanjavur district.
The probe revealed that the accused persons were members of HuT. They were allegedly engaged in radicalising and recruiting gullible youth to establish an Islamic State and enforce a draft constitution written by the radical Islamic preacher, Taqi al-Din al-Nabhani, the founder of HuT.
Bava Bahrudeen and Ziyavudeen Baqavi were allegedly organising meetings to recruit members and also conducting secret classes to indoctrinate, radicalise and motivate youth to work towards the establishment of Islamic State by overthrowing the Government of India. They had also allegedly conspired to establish new cells in various districts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala through social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube to spread the ideology of HuT.
