Court to hear charges against Bhatkal on 29 Nov

A Delhi court on Monday fixed 29 November for hearing arguments on framing of charges against suspected Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives, including its co-founder Yasin Bhatkal who were arrested by NIA for their alleged role in a conspiracy to carry out terror activities across the country.

National Investigation Agency (NIA) had earlier filed a supplementary charge sheet in the court against 20 suspected IM in which it had said that IM’s Pakistan-based founder Riyaz Bhatkal had suggested adopting tactics used in the 2013 Maoist strike in Chhattisgarh on Congress leaders for 

eliminating politicians.

The agency had, earlier filed two charge sheets in the case against nine suspected IM operatives, including Yasin Bhatkal and his close aide Asadullah Akhtar alias Haddi who were arrested by NIA on 28 August, 2013 in the case. Yasin Bhatkal and Asadullah Akhtar are in judicial custody. NIA, in its recent supplementary charge sheet filed in September this year, has named suspected top IM men Riyaz Bhatkal, Iqbal Bhatkal, Tahseen Akhtar, Ariz Khan, Md Sajid, Shahnawaz Alam, Mirza Shadab Beg, Amir Reza Khan, Md Khalid, Mohsin Choudhary, Haider Ali, Md Saleem Ishaqui and Afif Jailani as accused in the case. 

Besides them, alleged IM men Abu Rashid, Zia-ur-Rehman, Abdul Khadir Sultan Armar, Md Shafi Armar, Md Hussain Farhan, Md Rashid and Anwar Hussain were also named in the charge sheet by NIA.

It, however, did not find enough evidence to charge sheet suspected SIMI operative Abu Faisal in the case.  NIA said in the supplementary charge sheet that IM operatives were following the footsteps of global terrorist organisation ISIS to create a situation in India similar to the one prevailing in Iraq and Syria.