On March 7, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) chargesheeted one accused identified as Arafath Ali in the Shivamogga Islamic State (IS) conspiracy case related to the graffiti written in Mangaluru in Karnataka supporting terrorist outfits – IS, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and the Taliban, reports NIA. The NIA also invoked additional charges against two others accused identified as Mohammed Shariq and Maaz Muneer Ahmed in the case. NIA said, “Arafath, who had radicalised and hired the other accused for writing the graffiti in January 2020, was arrested by the NIA at T3 International Airport, New Delhi, on return from Kenya on September 14, 2023.He had earlier fled to Dubai in anticipation of his arrest in another case(the ‘Al-Hind module case’)for his association with absconding accused persons, Abdul Matheen Taha and Mussavir Hussain Shazeb.” NIA investigation revealed that it was on the instructions of Abdul Matheen and Mussavir Hussain that Arafath had indoctrinated Mohamed Shariq, Maaz Muneer Ahmed, and others to write graffiti in support of terror outfits at two places in Mangaluru. It was further revealed that Arafath, along with his associates and online handler, was part of a larger conspiracy to further the terror activities of IS. Arafath had paid the graffiti writers with funds received from his online handler in the form of crypto-currencies.