The National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted searches at 10 locations across Tamil Nadu on Sunday as part of their probe into Hizb-ut-Tahrir, an Islamic outfit affiliated to Islamic terror group ISIS. Among the targeted locations were two in Erode district. “The raids are still ongoing,” ANI quoted people aware of the development as saying.

The raids follow the NIA’s 2021 arrest of a person after conducting searches at various locations in Tamil Nadu related to the Madurai Hizb-ut-Tahrir module case, Hindustan Times has reported.

The case, initially registered under multiple charges of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 13(1)(b) of the UAPA, was filed at Thideer Nagar police station in Madurai.

As per the report, the primary suspect, Mohammed Iqbal, allegedly used his Facebook account, “Thoonga Vizhigal Rendu is in Kazimar Street,” to post content that denigrated a particular community.

In March 2022, NIA filed a supplementary charge sheet against Bava Bahrudeen alias Mannai Bava, a resident of Mannargudi in Tiruvarur district and Ziyavudeen Baqavi, a resident of Kumbakonam in Thanjavur district.

The probe revealed that the accused were members of Hizb-ut-Tahrir. They were engaged in ‘radicalising’ and recruiting Muslim youth to establish an Islamic State and enforce a draft constitution written by the radical Islamic preacher, Taqi al-Din al-Nabhani, the founder of HuT.

Bava Bahrudeen and Ziyavudeen Baqavi were allegedly organising meetings to recruit members and also conducting secret classes to indoctrinate, ‘radicalise’ and motivate Muslim youth to work towards the establishment of Islamic State by overthrowing the Government of India. They had also allegedly conspired to establish new cells in various districts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala through social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube to spread their ideology.