2 from Shivamogga IS module, whose handler is suspected to be linked to Red Fort blast, awarded 6 years’ jail for 2022 terror plot

A group of 10 others who were part of the module – including the accused in last year’s March 1 Bengaluru Rameshwaram Cafe blast case Abdul Matheen Taha, 32, Mussavir Hussain Shazib, 32, and the accused in the 2022 Mangaluru cooker blast case Mohammed Shariq, 27 – have not pleaded guilty and have chosen to face trial in the case.

The special court for NIA and terrorism cases in Bengaluru convicted Zabiulla and Nadeem Faizal to six years of rigorous imprisonment on charges of criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code and multiple charges of terrorism under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) – under sections 13, 16, 17, 18, 20, 38, 39, and 40 of the UAPA for unlawful activities, terrorist conspiracy, terrorist act, and being part of a terrorist organisation.

“The substantial sentences imposed on the offenders / Accused Nos.8 and 9 shall run concurrently. The period of detention undergone by the offenders / Accused Nos.8 and 9 in judicial custody shall be set off against the term of imprisonment imposed, as provided under Section 428 of the CrPC,” the special court said in its order on Friday.

Suspected link to other modules
The Shivamogga module is alleged to have been handled by a missing accused in a 2012 Bengaluru Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) terror conspiracy case, Mohammed Shahid Faizal, 42. Faisal, who is currently based abroad, is suspected to be also linked to the Kashmir doctors accused in the Red Fort blast, and a 2022 Coimbatore suicide bomb case on account of the modus operandi employed by the separate modules in the blasts.

The NIA alleged that Zabiulla was radicalised and recruited by Mohamed Shariq, the accused in the Mangaluru cooker bomb blast, which occurred accidentally while he was transporting the device in an autorickshaw “for furthering the activities of Islamic State (IS)”. Zabiullah is alleged to have “radicalised and recruited his friend Nadeem Faizal”.

Zabiulla and Nadeem Faizal were paid by Shariq for participation in the terror conspiracy by conducting recce for targets of attack on behalf of Shariq who, in turn, was being directed by a handler based abroad who identified himself in online chats only as the “Colonel” but was later identified after the Bengaluru Rameshwaram Blast probe as Shahid Faizal.

Zabiulla is alleged to have procured match boxes and supplied them to Shariq while the latter was trying to create an IED with everyday materials as directed by the handler.

“Scrutiny of mobile phone of accused Zabiulla (A-8) revealed a lot of images and speeches/ videos by leaders of PFI, SDPI and ISIS radicalisation videos/audios of Maulana Masood Azhar,” the NIA told the court. A video of a wanted terrorist Farhatullah Ghauri, 58, who is originally from Hyderabad and suspected to be in Pakistan, was also found with the two men.

Ghauri is reported by security agencies to be the father-in-law of the alleged handler of the Shivamogga module Shahid Faizal alias ‘Ustad’ alias ‘Colonel’.

How the Shivamogga module was unearthed
The module was incidentally uncovered by the police and security agencies in 2022 after a stabbing incident that occurred in the city of Shivamogga on Independence Day, where Zabiullah was arrested for attempting to kill an innocent bystander in a communal incident.

Zabiullah, who had a criminal record in the region, was arrested, along with a group of local residents, after a 20-year-old worker at a local silk clothing store, Prem Singh, was stabbed. The subsequent questioning and the analysis of his mobile phone alerted the police to the fact that he had been receiving content on the Islamic State and on topics like making Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) using easily available materials.

“In the course of the statement of the accused in the stabbing case, we learned that one person identified as Mohammed Shariq was radicalising the youths. Based on this statement, Shariq was considered an accused in the stabbing case and a separate case of terror under UAPA was also filed,” police sources said in 2022. Zabiullah’s mobile phone revealed a video sent by Shariq, a dropout from a commerce graduation course, about efforts to build an IED.

The findings led to the arrest of two associates of Shariq – Maaz Ahmed and Syed Yasin, 21-year-old engineering students. “They believe that just how IS operates and declares war against the non-believers/kafirs through jihad to uplift Islam, they too should carry out jihad against the kafirs and have stored material required to make explosives for the purpose,” the Shivamogga police said in a statement on September 22, 2022.

After learning how to make IEDs from the material shared by Shariq, the group allegedly purchased timer relay circuits required for the bomb from Amazon, two batteries of nine volts each, switches, wires, match boxes and other explosive materials in Shivamogga, the police said in September 2022.

“The accused had experimentally exploded the bomb made by them at a place locally known as Kemmangundi on the banks of Tunga river in Shivamogga district, and the experimental blast was successful,” said a statement by the Shivamogga SP at the time.

Funding in cryptocurrency from foreign handler
The probe in Shivamogga revealed that Shariq and an associate, Syed Yasin, received funding in the form of cryptocurrency for conversion into regular cash for the group’s activities from abroad.

The NIA probe found that Yasin got cryptocurrency deposited into the crypto wallet of his friend Mohammed Noorin Sharief and collected the cash. Yasin also allegedly received cryptocurrency in his crypto wallet and “transferred more than Rs 1 lakh into the account of accused No.1 (Mohammed Shariq)”.

The module is suspected to have received over Rs 5 lakh in cryptocurrency from handlers suspected to be based abroad. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) launched a probe into the funding of the module after it executed the Rameshwaram Cafe blast on March 1, 2024.

According to the NIA’s probe, the online handler identified as ‘Colonel’ transferred the funds to the members of the module “in cryptocurrency to crypto wallets of the accused and their friends to further the activities of Islamic State”.

“The bank statements and other documents collected by the investigating officer clearly go to show that accused No.2 (Maaz Muneer) received cryptocurrencies through crypto wallets of accused No.4 (Reeshan Shaikh), witnesses Shadab, Mohamed Riyaz, Tabish Tabarak Sheikh and others,” the NIA has reported to the special court for terrorism.

Reeshan Shaikh received cryptocurrencies from the online handler ‘Colonel’ and in the crypto account of his college friend Shadab, the NIA has alleged.

The foreign-based handler is also alleged to have provided huge amounts in cryptocurrency to two other key members of the Shivamogga module, Abdul Matheen Taha and Musavvir Hussain Shazib, who were on the run for over four years since 2020 before being nabbed in 2024 for executing the Rameshwaram Cafe blast.

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