CHENNAI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a supplementary chargesheet naming the Kovai Arabic Educational Association (KAEA), a registered society, and seven students of one of the accused, in a major ISIS radicalisation case in Tamil Nadu.
The chargesheet, filed on Friday, accuses the society and the seven accused persons under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. This marks a significant expansion of the case, with the KAEA being arraigned as a legal entity.
The case originates from the investigation into the October 2022 Coimbatore car‑bomb blast, where fourteen of the eighteen accused were students of the Kovai Arabic College, which functioned under the KAEA society. The NIA had earlier chargesheeted four accused, including Jameel Basha, the principal of Madras Arabic College.
Mohammed Hussain, Irshath, Ahmed Ali, Aboo Hanifa, Jawahar Sadiq, Sheik Dawood, and Raja Mohammed are the seven individuals named in the recent filing, who were students of Jameel Basha. Mohammed Hussain and Irshath were also named in the original chargesheet and now face additional charges.
The NIA registered the case suo-motu in August 2023, uncovering a network that radicalised and incited vulnerable youth under the guise of free Arabic language classes. Investigations revealed that radical sermons were disseminated through online classes on platforms like Zoom, WhatsApp, and Telegram, as well as in regular classroom sessions where Jameel Basha’s lectures were broadcast.