NIA court remands judicial custody to a man held for conspiring suicide attack in Kerala

Riyas A, also known as Riyas Aboobacker or Abu Dujana, was remanded 30 days of judicial custody by the NIA court, on the charge of conspiring a suicide attack in Kerala, inspired by the ISIS module. The 29-year-old Riyas had confessed of following Zahran Hashim, the mastermind of the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka.

Kochi (Kerala): The National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Tuesday remanded Riyas A, also known as Riyas Aboobacker or Abu Dujana, to 30 days of judicial custody till May 29, on the charge of conspiring a suicide attack in Kerala.

The 29-year-old Riyas was arrested on Monday after he was picked up by the NIA on Sunday in connection with the Kasaragod module of the ISIS.

During interrogation, Riyas had confessed of following the speeches and videos of Zahran Hashim, a radical Tamil-speaking cleric who was the mastermind of the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka, which left 253 people dead and over 500 injured.

Hailing from Palakkad, Riyas told the agency that he had also been following the speeches of Zakir Naik, an absconding Indian Islamic preacher and founder of the Islamic Research Foundation.

He admitted that he wanted to carry out a suicide attack in Kerala, an NIA spokesperson said Monday.

Riyas had also disclosed that he had been in contact with absconding Abdul Rashid Abdulla, aka Abu Isa, for a long time and has been following his audio clips, including the clip which he had circulated on social media, instigating others to carry out terror attacks in India.

He further revealed that he was also in touch with Abdul Khayoom, aka Abu Khalid, an accused in Valapattanam ISIS case, who is believed to be in Syria.

The NIA had earlier received inputs that a group of four people has been in contact with some of the accused, including Abdul Rashid, Ashfaq Majeed, and Abdul Khayoom, who had already migrated to Afghanistan and Syria.

After verification, the NIA carried out searches at three places, two in Kasaragod and one in Palakkad District on Sunday.

Three group members were interrogated for their ISIS links and their plans.

The Kasargod ISIS module case was registered in July 2016 following the disappearance of 15 youths from Kasargod and their subsequent migration to ISIS, 14 to Afghanistan and one person to Syria.