On Friday (12 July), the National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed a chargesheet in the NIA Special Court, Mumbai, against Mohammed Zoheb Khan and Libya-based Mohammed Shoeb Khan. The two brothers have been identified as key conspirators in a terror module linked to a global terror network operating in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad), Maharashtra.
Mohammed Zoheb Khan was arrested by the NIA in February this year in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar. The investigation revealed that his brother, Mohammed Shoeb Khan, who is based in Libya, is an absconding accused and a most-wanted terrorist in India. Shoeb left the country several years ago to join ISIS in Libya but maintained contact with Zoheb.
The NIA’s investigation found that Zoheb Khan had been radicalized and was allegedly involved in ISIS recruitment programs. The brothers conspired to recruit vulnerable youth to carry out terror attacks at sensitive installations across India. They planned to target various establishments and vital installation points.
Zoheb Khan had planned to flee to Afghanistan or Turkey after executing a series of terror attacks in India.
Additionally, Zoheb was found to be actively involved in developing a website to promote ISIS’s extremist and violent ideology, aiming to attract youth worldwide into the ISIS fold. He created a WhatsApp group, adding over 50 youth from the Aurangabad area with the intent to radicalize and recruit them for ISIS activities in India.
The NIA’s chargesheet against the Khan brothers underscores the agency’s ongoing efforts to dismantle terror networks and prevent radicalization and recruitment in India.
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