NIA files chargesheet against 24 for training Kerala youth for terror

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The NationalInvestigation Agency today filed chargesheet in the Kashmir terror recruitmentcase in which youth from Kerala were indoctrinated and recruited for jehaditraning by Lashkar-e-Taiba agents.The chargesheet which was filed in a designated court in Kochi lists 24 accused. The main accused is K V Abdul Jaleel, who hails from Kannur. He is said to be an activist of the ultra-Islamic National Development Front which later merged to form the Popular Front of India. Some of the other accused named by the NIA are Pakistan national Wali Abdul Rahman and Sarfraz Nawaz, a keralite. Both of them were LeT operatives.The chargesheet claimed that the conspiracy behind theterror recruitment extended beyond Indian borders and had links with some of theneighbouring countries. The youth were weaned away from theirhomes in theguise of religious training and taken to places like Hyderabad where they wereintroduced to jehadi literature.The terror trail came to light afterthe death of four Malayalee youth in an encounter with security forces inKashmir in October 2008. They were identified as Mohd Fayaz of Kannur, AbdulRahim of Malappuram, Rimon alias Mohd Yasin - a convert from Christianity– from Ernakulam and Fayeez of Kannur.Investigation revealedthat Bangalore blasts case accused Tadiyantavide Naseer who is also an accusedin the case had taken the youth initially to Hyderabad where they were preparedideologically and then sent across the border for weapons training. The firsthits came from Mohd Jaleel, a painter, who had received phone calls from themilitants while they were caught in the encounter. He led the cops to Faisal,the man who had taken Mohd Fayaz from his home in September 2008 on the pretextof a job in Bangalore.Subsequently, it came to light that Faisal wasone of the main recruiting agents for the LeT and is believed to have taken atleast 100 men, mostly from Kannur, to Bangalore and Hyderabad for induction interror. But the state government claimed that the figures wereexaggerated.