Srinagar: Police’s counter-intelligence wing (CIK) on Saturday filed a chargesheet against a “terrorist associate” from Anantnag district in a terror recruitment case.
A spokesperson of Counter Intelligence Kashmir (CIK) termed it a major breakthrough against Pakistan-backed terror propaganda and recruitment networks operating through social media.
The CIK produced the chargesheet before the court of a special judge designated under the NIA Act here, he said.
The chargesheet was filed in a case — FIR No. 07/2023 — registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against Aadil Ahmad Khan alias Gull Khan, a resident of Drien Qazigund area of south Kashmir’s Anantnag district.
The case pertains to a terror recruitment module being clandestinely operated through social media platforms, to radicalise and recruit impressionable youths of Jammu and Kashmir into the ranks of proscribed terrorist organisations, particularly those sponsored and controlled from across the border in Pakistan, the spokesperson said.
He said the investigation was initiated based on credible information that unscrupulous individuals and entities based in Pakistan, in connivance with terrorist handlers of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and other banned outfits, were using social media to lure Kashmiri youth and instigate them to wage war against the sovereignty and integrity of India.
During the investigation, three accused were earlier found involved and chargesheeted before the court, he said. They were identified as Waseem Ahmad Sheikh, a resident of Kandoora Budgam, Junaid Ahmad Mir from Tikkipora Lolab, and Shabir Ahmad Gojri from Darbagh Harwan area of the city.
Further investigation uncovered the active role of accused Khan, who had been operating a dedicated online recruitment network through Facebook and Twitter, “disseminating secessionist, anti-national, and pro-terror content”, the spokesperson said.
“His online activities were aimed at glorifying terrorism, promoting violent extremism, and motivating youth to join proscribed terrorist organisations,” the spokesperson added.
The investigation established that Khan was “actively aiding and abetting” terrorist propaganda by sharing and amplifying digital content aligned with the agenda of Pakistan-based terror groups and their offshoot organisations.
His online radicalisation efforts were coupled with ground-level facilitation of terror recruitment, the spokesperson said.
He said the case is being investigated by the CIK with a focus on identifying and dismantling the wider online terror ecosystem, including handlers, sympathisers, and digital facilitators operating from within and outside the Union territory.
The spokesperson said more arrests and disclosures are expected as the investigation progresses.
