Mumbai: In the southern states alone, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has registered 17 cases related to the presence of the Islamic State (IS) and have arrested 122 persons for their alleged connection with them.
The Union Home Ministry in a written reply in parliament informed that 12 states of India, including the five south Indian states, have seen a rise in cases related to the IS.
Minister of State for Home, G. Kishan Reddy, in his written response, said, “Investigations by the NIA have revealed that the IS is most active in Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Jammu & Kashmir.” Reddy further added that both the central and state security agencies have come across several instances where individuals have joined the IS from these states.
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In his response, he further added that the IS is allegedly using various internet-based social media platforms to propagate its ideology. “Cyberspace is being closely watched in this regard by the agencies concerned and action is taken as per law,” he claimed in his response.
Reddy was responding to the question posed by BJP Member of Parliament Vinay P. Sahasrabuddhe who had specifically sought information of the terror organisation’s spread in southern states of India. Sahasrabuddhe had further sought information about the steps taken to apprehend them.
Reddy also pointed out that Islamic State, the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Daish, the Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP), the ISIS Wilayat Khorasan, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham-Khorasan (ISIS-K) and all its manifestations and fronts have been notified as terrorist organisations and included in the First Schedule to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 by the Central government.