FB post propagating IS ideology: NIA raids 4 places in Madurai

The NIA on Sunday carried out searches at four locations in Madurai in connection with a case relating to incriminating Facebook posts by an extremist advocating the ideology of the Islamic State terror group and fundamentalist organisation Hizb-Ut-Tahrir, an official said.

The case pertains to uploading some incriminating posts on Facebook by Mohammad Iqbal, a Madurai resident, who was arrested in December last year, he said.

In the social media posts, Iqbal, an extremist, advocated the ideology of the ISIS terror group and Hizb-Ut-Tahrir, a fundamentalist organisation, the official of the premier investigation agency said. The posts on the Facebook page titled “Thoonga Vizhigal Rendu is in Kazimar Street” was uploaded by Iqbal for denigrating a particular community, the official said, adding they were designed to incite communal disharmony amongst different religious groups, in a manner prejudicial to the maintenance of public order.

The searches were conducted at Kazimar Street, K Pudur, Pethaniyapuram and Mehaboob Palayam in Madurai district. During the operation, 16 digital devices, including a laptop, hard disks, mobile phones, memory cards, SIMs, pen drives and many incriminating books/pamphlets/documents have been recovered, the official said. Further investigation in the case continues, he added. The case was originally registered by the Tamil Nadu police last year for alleged incriminating posts on the social media platform. The central agency took over the investigation on April 15.