Three Islamic State (IS) operatives from Hyderabad were among the 15 people sentenced to rigorous imprisonment by a special court for National Investigation Agency (NIA) cases in New Delhi.
The three persons were sentenced in a conspiracy case in Delhi, registered by the agency in 2015. Nafees Khan alias Fatima Khan alias Abu Zarrar of Madhapur, Mohammed Shariff Moinudeen from Tolichowki and Mohammed Obedullah of Saidabad were among the accused awarded prison terms along with a fine.
The orders were passed by Special Judge for NIA Parveen Singh on Friday.
While Nafees Khan was sentenced to 10 years RI with a fine of ₹1.03 lakh, Moinudeen and Obedullah got five years RI each and a fine of ₹38,000.
The case was registered by the NIA, New Delhi, on September 12, 2015, and pertains to criminal conspiracy by the ISIS to establish its base in India by recruiting Muslim youth using different social media platforms.
During the investigation, searches were conducted in various cities across the country and 19 accused were arrested.
It was revealed that the accused formed an organisation by name Junood-ul-Khilafa-Fil-Hind (a group seeking to establish Caliphate in India and pledging allegiance to ISIS/ISIL) to recruit Muslim youth to work for ISIS and commit acts of terrorism in India at the behest of one Yusuf-Al-Hindi alias Shafi Armar alias Anjan Bhai, based in Syria and was allegedly the media chief of the ISIS.
The case had a huge impact on people who were likely to join ISIS, officials said.