Hyderabad: The National Investigation Agency on Saturday conducted searches at three places here and Wardha of Maharashtra in connection with an ISIS module case, and picked up four suspects for questioning, the agency said.

The NIA had filed a supplementary chargesheet against Abdullah Basith and Mohammed Abdul Qhadeer in February.

The chargesheet stated that Basith, a resident of Chandrayangutta in Hyderabad, was trying to propagate the ideology of ISIS in India. He, along with his associates, identified, motivated, and radicalised innocent Muslim youth to join ISIS.

The NIA had said Abdul Qhadeer, also a resident of Chandrayanagutta, had come under the influence of Basith because of their common intention to propagate ISIS ideology. The duo had started meeting other gang members to spread the word.

As part of the investigation into the 2016 Abu Dhabi module case, based on reliable information, NIA had carried out searches and seized several digital devices and other documents from the houses of the four suspects, whose questioning is going on, the agency said in a release.

The National Investigation Agency is probing a case since 2016 where it is alleged that the members of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) were involved in a conspiracy to identify, motivate, radicalise, recruit and train Indian Muslim youth on behalf of the proscribed outfit to carry out terror activities, according to the release.

In January 2016, the NIA had registered a case against three accused Sheikh Azhar-ul-Islam, Adnan Hassan and Mohammed Farhan Shaikh and they were arrested on arrival to Delhi from Abu Dhabi.

The digital devices seized included 13 mobile phones, 11 SIM cards, one iPad, two laptops, one external hard disk, six pen drives, six SD Cards and three walkie talkie sets, it said.

In August 2018, the NIA had arrested two alleged ISIS sympathisers - Mohammed Abdullah Basith and Mohd Abdul Qhadeer from Hyderabad - as part of its larger probe into Indian youngsters being radicalised to carry out terror strikes on behalf of the banned international outfit.

On February 7 this year, the NIA had filed a supplementary chargesheet against two accused in connection with its probe in the Abu Dhabi module case and the fresh raids were being carried out in connection with this module based on "fresh inputs", official sources said.

According to the agency, Basith was connected with accused Adnan Hassan and some of his associates were in regular touch with each other and conspiring to further the activities of ISIS.

* With inputs from PTI