A district court in Vijayawada on Monday extended the judicial custody period of five terror suspects until April 20, and also allowed police to keep them in custody from April 9 to 13 for questioning, people familiar with the matter said.
Police custody of the five accused – Mohammad Rahaneullah Sharif, Mohammad Danish and Mirza Sohail Baig, all from Vijayawada, along with Saeeda Begum from Hyderabad and Abdul Salam from Karnataka’s Ballari district – ended on Sunday, after which they were produced in the Vijayawada magistrate court on Monday.
“The accused have been shifted to Rajahmundry Central Jail,” a police officer familiar with the developments said.
The men were among 12 people arrested on March 24 for allegedly having links to terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). They were sent to Vijayawada police custody on April 1, following a court order. They were interrogated by officials of the Central Intelligence Cell in Andhra Pradesh and other states, as well as by officers from the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
According to senior police officers, the accused confirmed that they were in contact with a foreign national who assumed the role of a “handler” and on his alleged instructions created multiple groups on Telegram and Instagram to spread the ideas of “Jihad” and “Ghazwat-ul-Hind” (a term referring to the “war against India” used in extremist literature) and to recruit and radicalize others. They also spoke of alleged plans to establish a dedicated women’s terror cell in the country.
Investigators said they found examples of extremist literature, videos and other types of propaganda that were circulated on social media members by the accused and their other accomplices, adding that the investigation is ongoing.
They added that the groups created by the defendants include “dealers” and arms suppliers from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, the United Arab Emirates and others.
