The NIA Special Court, Ernakulam (Kerala), has sentenced an ISIS operative to 10 years of Rigorous Imprisonment (RI) for promoting the banned terrorist outfit’s violent ideology and agenda and conspiring to carry out suicide attacks in Kochi.
The accused, Riyas Aboobacker alias Abu Dujana, a resident of Palakkad (Kerala), has also been fined by the Special Court, which found him guilty under sections 38 & 39 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and section 120B of IPC. Riyas was arrested by the NIA on September 24, 2019 and charge-sheeted in October the same year.
He is the third person to be convicted in the case RC-02/2016/NIA/KOC (ISIS Kasaragod Module case), relating to the activities of 14 youth from Kasaragod district of Kerala who, along with their families, had exited India between May and July, 2016 and had joined ISIS/ Daish in the Islamic Caliphate announced by the proscribed terrorist organisation. NIA had, in 2018, obtained the conviction of Yasmeen Mohammed Zahid, who was sentenced to seven years RI with fine, followed by Nashidul Hamsafar, who was handed five years RI in 2021.
Riyas, who went by the name Abu Dujana on the social media, had been radicalised into the ISIS/Daish ideology since 2017 by absconding accused, Abdul Rashid Abdulla and Ashfak Majeed. The radicalisation took place over the social media and since July 2018, Riyas had been propagating and furthering the proscribed organisation’s violent ideology and plans.
As per NIA investigations, Riyad had, in October 2018, also conspired to carry out suicide attacks at prominent business centres in Kochi to spread terror and further the activities of ISIS/ Daish in India. Investigations had further established that Riyas had motivated and sought support from his co-conspirators for carrying out the terrorist acts.
NIA had taken over the case, originally registered at Chandera Police Station, Kerala, in August 2016, and is continuing with its investigations in the matter.
