Culture1 min
Sarkar gets six years in NIA's ISIS propaganda and fundraising case
A special court has convicted the first of six accused in a Mumbai-registered case that tracked extremist magazines, recruitment and money trails with foreign handlers.
A man identified as Sarkar has been convicted and sentenced to a maximum of six years of rigorous imprisonment in a case the National Investigation Agency (NIA) brought over spreading Islamic State (ISIS) ideology and raising funds. He was also fined Rs 65,000, according to an NIA statement.
Sarkar was also convicted under Indian Penal Code sections 201, which covers causing evidence to disappear, and 120-B, which covers criminal conspiracy. In plain terms, the court found he took part in a plot and acted to hide its traces.
The case began on June 28, 2023, when NIA Mumbai registered it on its own initiative (a suo motu case). The trigger was information from the Union Home Ministry about an alleged ISIS conspiracy to threaten India's unity, integrity, security and sovereignty.
Investigators say the trail went well beyond one city. The NIA says it uncovered a wider conspiracy with international links and ISIS handlers based abroad. The accused were found to be involved in spreading the group's extremist ideology, recruiting people, raising money for terror activity and circulating propaganda magazines, including 'Voice of Hind' and 'Voice of Khurasan'.
Five others were chargesheeted alongside Sarkar: Tabish Nasser Siddiqui, Zulfikar Ali Barodawala (alias Lalabhai), Sharjeel Shaikh, Aakif Ateeque Nachan and Zubair Noor Mohammad Shaikh (alias Abu Nusaiba). A special court framed charges against all six, and all are in judicial custody.
Trial of the remaining five continues, the NIA said, so this verdict does not settle the wider case. For readers, it shows how agencies treat online propaganda, recruitment and small-scale fundraising as part of one chain, not separate offences.
