Two IS (Islamic State) operatives on August 19, pleaded guilty before a Delhi court in a case of criminal conspiracy by the IS to establish its base in India by recruiting Muslim youths through different social media platforms in order to carry out acts of terrorism in the country, reports thekashmirimages.com. Accused Abu Anas and Najmul Huda made the submission before the court, which was scheduled to hear arguments on the quantum of punishment for six other accused who had earlier pleaded guilty in the case, their advocate Qausar Khan said. Special Judge Parveen Singh, meanwhile, deferred for August 24, 2020 the hearing on the quantum of sentence for the six accused — Mudabbir Mushtaq Sheikh, Mohammad Shareef Moinudeen Khan, Asif Ali, Mohammad Hussain Khan, Syed Mujahid and Mohammad Azhar Khan — who pleaded guilty earlier. While pleading guilty, the accused told the court that they were “remorseful for the acts alleged against them”, and undertook not to indulge in similar acts and activities in future.
The case, registered by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on December 9, 2015 under relevant sections of the IPC and the UA(P) Act, pertains to the larger criminal conspiracy hatched by the IS to establish its base in India by recruiting Muslim youths for the proscribed terror group through different social media platforms, the probe agency said. The accused had formed Junood-ul-Khilafa-Fil-Hind organisation, seeking to establish a caliphate in India and pledging allegiance to IS, to recruit Muslim youths to work for the ISIS and commit acts of terrorism in India at the behest of Syria-based Yusuf-Al-Hindi who is purportedly the media chief of IS, it said. The NIA had filed chargesheets against 16 accused in 2016-2017.