The National Investigating Agency (NIA) filed a chargesheet against 7 arrested terrorists who belonged to the Pune ISIS module. In the chargesheet, there are startling revelations about the working of the ISIS module and how it was making Muslim youth pledge allegiance to ISIS. The chargesheet reveals that the accused were planning attacks against non-Muslims, talked about killing ‘Kafirs’ and discussed various methods to eliminate them. According to the chargesheet, the ISIS terrorists had planned to establish Sharia in India.
The NIA investigation led them to interrogate several witnesses whose statements have been included in the chargesheet which has been filed by the NIA. One witness, whose identity has been withheld, spoke extensively about how the arrested accused had added him to a WhatsApp group where they were propagating the ISIS ideology and urging Muslims to pledge their allegiance.
The chargesheet says that Padgha village resident Zulfikar Ali Barodawala and Pune resident Zubair Shaikh had started radicalising youth in 2015 and had created the group on WhatsApp where they posted messages in support of ISIS.
What the witness revealed about the Pune ISIS terrorists’ modus operandi and their dangerous ideology
The protected witness that NIA quotes says that he came in touch with Zubair Shaikh, who has been arrested in another case by NIA, in 2011-2012. The witness claimed that in 2014, Shaikh had added him to a WhatsApp group called ‘Unity in Muslim Ummah’ and ‘Ummah News’.
The witness said that Zubair Shaikh would post articles related to Palestine, Syria, and ISIS ideology. He claimed that apart from Zubair, one Talha Khan, Abdullah Shaikh (a wanted accused who is said to be in Oman), Barodawala, Abdul Kadeer, and Simab Kazi were the members of that WhatsApp group who supported ISIS and propagated the ideology of the terror group. The witness claimed that he had left the group but was added again in 2017.
The protected witness, whose statement is added in the NIA chargesheet, said that he was close to Barodawala. Barodawala moved out of Pune to Padgha village in Bhiwandi taluka in 2022. When the witness asked him why, Barodawala told him that Padgha was a free zone where Sharia was followed, mosques were open even during the pandemic and the village was like Al-Shaam (Greater Syria region where ISIS ruled).
In the group, mythical atrocities against Muslims was discussed extensively in order to radicalise Muslim youth.
The witness explained how he had met accused Simab Kazi who was conducting ‘E-dars’ online during the COVID lockdown. In 2021, he was introduced to the accused Zulfikar Ali Barodawala and Abdul Kadeer Pathan and he started meeting them frequently as he was jobless at that time.
The witness quoted by the NIA also went into great detail about the kind of messages that were being shared by the accused ISIS terrorists in the WhatsApp group they were using the recruit.
According to a MidDay report, the witness said in his statement, “In our initial meetings, we had friendly and casual talks. However, gradually Zulfikar alias Lalabhai, Simab Kazi and Talha Khan started discussing topics like shirk, khalifah, jihad, Islamic State of Syria and Iraq (ISIS), bay’ah etc. Many times, they tried to convince other members including me to join ISIS and pledge allegiance to ISIS”.
“They would say that voting in any form of election is haram in Islam. They always used to give examples of mob lynching of Muslims in India to incite us to do something violent against it. They would say that Islam does not allow women to go outside their houses. Hence, they were against the participation of Muslim women in CAA/NRC agitations.” the statement reads further.
The goal of the accused was to ensure that Muslims join ISIS for the sake of the establishment of an Islamic state in India. Further, they would also say that the Constitition is haraam and for Muslims, the only law is that of Allah.
Killing non-Muslims was also an agenda that was discussed extensively in the group. The witness said that the accused ISIS terrorists would say, “Hame kafiron ko marana hai aur usse anjam dene ke liye hamare paas sari cheeje hai. Aur sahi time ayega tab tumhe sab bata denge”.
Some of the statements the accused ISIS terrorists would make in the group
The MidDay report mentions 5 crucial statements that the witness says the accused ISIS terrorists would make in the WhatsApp group.
- India ka Constitution apne liye nahi hai, apana kanoon sirf Quran hai (The Indian Constitution is not for us, the only we follow is the Quran)
- Jihad karana har Muslim ka farz hai (Jihad is the duty of every Muslim)
- Koi bhi Muslim jamaat ya tanzeem sahi nahi hai, sirf ISIS sahi hai, kyonki woh Khalifah ke liye ladate hai, Khalifah kayam karane ke liye mehnat karate hai… Khalifah yaane ki puri duniya par Shariat ka amal hona (No other Islamic council or organisation is right except for ISIS as they work for the caliphate and put in efforts to expand its rule… and the caliphate means to bring the entire world under Sharia law)
- Tirange jhande ko salami dena ya national anthem ke wagt khade rehna shirk hai, kyonki woh Islam se bada nahi hai (Saluting the Indian tricolour or standing when the national anthem is being recited is haram as they are not greater than Islam)
- Shia aur dargah jaane wale musalmaan qafir hai aur unke khilaf bhi jihad kar sakte hain (Shias and other Muslims who visit dargahs are infidels and jihad can be carried out against them as well)
The connection between the Pune ISIS module and Delhi anti-Hindu riots
As reported earlier, the Pune ISIS module has a link to the Delhi anti-Hindu riots as well. One of the ISIS terrorists arrested earlier in October, Arshad Warsi, was in regular touch with one of the Delhi Riots mastermind Sharjeel Imam through the initial planning phases of the violence in December 2019. A detailed report on the connection between the Pune ISIS module and the Delhi Riots can be read here.
Arshad Warsi played a significant role in orchestrating the conspiracy behind the communal violence during the CAA-NRC protests in Delhi. Moreover, his active involvement in setting up the protest site at Shaheen Bagh has also been revealed in the investigations.
The chargesheet, which spans a substantial 2,700 pages and pertains to FIR 59/2020, notably allocates nearly 700 pages to detailing the chronology of the plotted conspiracy. What stands out in the chargesheet is the Delhi Police’s impressive ability to unearth the conspiracy’s timeline, tracing it all the way back to December 5, 2019, just one day after the Citizenship Amendment Bill was introduced in both houses of Parliament.
According to the chargesheet filed by the Delhi Police, after CAB was tabled in both houses of the parliament on the 4th of December, on the 5th of December a group called Muslim Students of JNU (MSJ) was formed by Sharjeel Imam who was the main member of the group and its creation was also his brainchild.
The chats that been procured by the Delhi police after a perusal of the phones confiscated from Sharjeel and the other accused, it was revealed that Sharjeel Imam and Arshad Warsi (a student of Jamia) were in constant touch and Sharjeel was also in touch with “radical communal group” Students of Jamia (SOJ).
On the 6th of December, pamphlets which were written by Sharjeel Imam himself were distributed in the Jama Masjid area by the MSJ group. This fact was revealed by the chats recovered between Sharjeel Imam and Mohammad Arshad Warsi. The pamphlets were communal in nature and essentially aimed to incite hate in the Muslim community by invoking the Supreme Court decision in the Ram Janmabhoomi case.
Some of the pamphlets read “Law of Allah above all else” and “The command of Allah is above every law”. The pamphlets that were distrusted in mosques on the 6th of December also had a call to join the protest called by ‘United Against Hate’ at Jantar Mantar in large numbers and to “mobilise mob”.
The charge sheet says, “Sharjeel Imam revealed his intention of joining the protest of United Against Hate, at Jantar Mantar on 7 December 2019 in his chats to Arshad Warsi of SOJ.” The chargesheet includes screenshots of this conversation, revealing that Imam had reached out to Mohammad Arshad Warsi for the purpose of “mass mobilisation” in connection with the Delhi riots. Details of the same can be read here.
