In a sensational disclosure, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said that a 20-year-old Muslim woman from Pune, who wanted to be a suicide bomber, was de-radicalised twice in the last few years by Indian intelligence agencies. However, in spite of de-radicalisation, she returned to join the ranks of Islamic terrorists, reports Hindustan Times. According to a charge sheet filed by NIA, Sadiya Anwar Shaikh, a 20-year-old youth from Pune, was first de-radicalised in 2015 after she had put up radical content on her Facebook account.
Sadiya had come under the radar of intelligence agencies in 2015, who then had de-radicalised her and let her go. Shockingly, Sadiya had revealed to intelligence officials in 2015 that she was inspired by radical Islamic terror sympathiser Zakir Naik.
A few years later, the Muslim woman again created multiple fake accounts on Facebook and other social media platforms to spread such contents. In January 2018, she went to Kashmir and where she was caught again by the Jammu and Kashmir police. The NIA in its charge-sheet said that Sadiya was again de-radicalised and was handed over to her mother as she was a minor.
Sadiya wanted suicide vest in Pune, learnt to make IEDs
Reportedly, Sadiya had asked Jahanzaib Sami, who is an another accused named in the charge-sheet, if she can procure a suicide vest in Pune. According to NIA, the Muslim youth had also learnt how to prepare an IED (improvised explosive device) using picric acid.
“She was not only inclined towards ISIS (Islamic State) but was even ready to offer her support in the form of becoming a suicide bomber,” the charge sheet said.
The NIA charge-sheet further said that once she had even asked one of her IS contacts if they can explore the possibility of using the coronavirus to wreak havoc on India. The charge-sheet said Sadiya had hoped to use the pandemic situation to destroy the country.
A senior counter-terrorism official said, “There was intent from her side to know if they can spread the virus by sending infected persons in crowded places or through other means. There was no implementation of the plan.”
Sadiya was in touch with ISKP, Al-Qaeda and other Islamic terror groups
According to the charge sheet, Sadiya was also in touch with terrorists of various groups such as the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), Islamic State in Jammu and Kashmir (ISJK), al Qaeda, Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGH) in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, among other countries, on social media since 2015.
She was also in touch with a key IS “online motivator” from the Philippines named Karen Aisha Hamidon, who had radicalised several Indian youngsters. The NIA officials had even travelled to Manila in April 2018 to question Hamidon.
Sadiya was arrested in July in a conspiracy case linked to the Islamic State (IS) after the second de-radicalisation effort failed. Along with Sadiya, the NIA had nabbed 36-year-old Jahanzaib Sami, a resident of Srinagar, Hina Bashir, Abdullah Basith and Nabeel Siddick Khatri.
Sadiya, along with Jahanzaib, Hina and Abdullah Basith had plotted to leverage the anti-CAA protests to stoke Muslims against the Indian Government by devising new seditious slogans and making graffiti at public places. They had planned to highlight the same on social and international media.
