(Photo Credit: V. Sudershan)
India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) has raided the houses of at least four people in North Kerala in relation to the Easter Sunday bombing in Sri Lanka which claimed over 250 lives.
The targets of the raid lived in Kasargode and Palakkad and were identified as having followed Zahara Hashim devotedly on social media. Hashim is a radical Islamic preacher who is accused of having planned the attacks in Sri Lanka.
Law enforcement agencies such as the NIA and FBI have been using the digital trail left by Hashim on social media to try and identify those who have been radicalised by his sermons.
Hasim travelled across India and the contacts he made as well as the places he stayed at are subjects of interest for the NIA.
The NIA has not placed any charges on the suspects yet, possibly due to a lack of evidence indicating their involvement. Despite this, they were still able to conduct the raids at Kaliyangad and Nayanmarmoola in Kasargode and Adavumaram and Muthalamad in Palakkad.
Whilst the details of the case are confidential, the Hindu reports that the suspects have beefed summoned to NIA offices in Kochi for further questioning.
