'Shahadat' group: NIA raids multiple places

The searches were carried out by different teams at their houses in Muthupet, Keelakarai, Devipattinam, Lalpet and Salem. Following the search, the NIA teams seized 3 laptops, 3 hard discs, 16 mobile phones, 8 SIM cards, 2 pen drives, 5 memory cards, 1 card reader besides 2 knives and many incriminating documents from the premises.

At Muthupet, multiple teams conducted searches for over seven hours in the houses of three accused persons. Tension prevailed for a while as the searches were conducted in the holy month of Ramzan. Many local residents gathered in front of the houses, even as the searches were carried out. A strong contingent of more than 100 police personnel was deployed to prevent any untoward incident.

Sources said the group had created a WhatsApp group named, “Shahadat is our goal.” In 2018, the 10 accused persons allegedly conspired to procure arms, raise funds to wage an armed struggle, to facilitate escape of terrorists from jail and to propagate their ideology to act against the State, they said.

Subsequently, a case was registered against them on April 2, 2019, at the Keelakarai police station in Ramanathapuram district under sections 153A, 120B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), besides section 25(1) (a) of Arms Act 1959. Of the ten persons, nine were arrested and they are now out on bail, while one is still absconding.

The case was later handed over to the NIA as the accused persons were suspected to be having a larger network. Earlier this month, the NIA held searches at various locations in Tiruchy, Kumbakonam and Karaikal in connection with the murder of PMK man Ramalingam on February 5. He had earlier argued with a few Muslim men over their alleged attempts to preach Islam in a Dalit colony in Thirubuvanam.