More than two years before the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Jammu and Kashmir Police arrested several doctors, alleged to be involved in the Delhi Red Fort blast on November 10, the central agency apprehended a doctor from Pune in connection with the ISIS Maharashtra module terror case in July 2023.
On July 26, 2023, the central agency arrested Adnan Ali Sarkar, 45, a consulting anaesthetist working at a top hospital in Pune, who lived in the city’s Kondhwa area with his wife and children. The police said Sarkar went to schools in Akola and Bhusawal towns in Maharashtra before moving to Pune for higher education.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Jammu and Kashmir Police have arrested several doctors alleged to be part of a ‘while collar terror module’ involved in the Delhi Red Fort blast on November 10.
This is not the first time doctors have been arrested in connection with a terror case. On July 26, 2023, the central agency arrested a doctor, identified as Adnan Ali Sarkar, 45, from Pune, in connection with the ISIS Maharashtra module terror case.
A consulting anaesthetist working at a top hospital in Pune, Sarkar resided in the city’s Kondhwa area with his wife and children. The police said Sarkar did his schooling in Akola and Bhusawal towns in Maharashtra before shifting to Pune for studies.
He completed his MBBS in 2001 from B J Medical College in Pune and MD in anaesthesiology in 2006 from the same government-run institution. Police sources said that after working at a prominent hospital in Mumbai, he again came to Pune and was earning well. His research papers were published in medical journals.
But his name cropped up during the investigation of a meeting held in Pune on December 18, 2015, by alleged ISIS operatives arrested by the central agency from different parts of the country. The Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) questioned Sarkar in 2016, but did not arrest him then.
Religious lectures
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However, a police probe revealed Sarkar was a Bohra Muslim, who later got influenced to accept the Sunni faith. Police sources said that in Pune, Sarkar was suspected to have been associated with a religious foundation started by an Arabic teacher.
A few suspects linked to this foundation were arrested for bomb blasts in Gujarat. The police said Sarkar also started Arabic classes in Kondhwa and was one of the main speakers at the Islamic Awareness Society in Pune. He also conducted ‘Dars’ (religious lectures), as per the police.
The central agency registered the ISIS Maharashtra module case on June 28, 2023. On July 3 that year, following extensive raids in Mumbai, Thane and Pune, the central agency arrested four suspects: Tabish Nasser Siddiqui from Nagpada in Mumbai, Zubair Noor Mohammed Shaikh alias Abu Nusaiba from Kondhwa in Pune, and Sharjeel Shaikh and Zulfikar Ali Barodawala from Padgha in Thane.
The agency alleged that the four accused shared among themselves materials, including ‘do-it-yourself (DIY) kits’ for the fabrication of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and the manufacturing of small weapons, pistols, etc.
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Police sources said Sarkar, brother-in-law of the accused Barodawala, was arrested following leads obtained from the interrogation of another accused, Zubair Shaikh, who had worked as an IT engineer but lost his job a few years ago.
Documents related to ISIS
A press release by the central agency following his arrest stated that several incriminating materials, such as electronic gadgets and several documents related to ISIS, were seized from Sarkar’s Kondhwa residence. It stated that the material exposed Sarkar’s allegiance with ISIS and his role in “promoting the outfit’s violent agenda by motivating and recruiting vulnerable youth”.
“The accused had hatched a conspiracy to further ISIS terrorist activities…Probe has revealed that Sarkar was trying to disturb the unity, integrity, security and sovereignty of the country, and wage a war against the Government of India as part of the ISIS conspiracy through the organisation’s Maharashtra ISIS module,” the statement added.
In August 2023, the agency arrested Aakif Ateeque Nachan of Borivali –Padgha, the sixth accused in the ISIS Maharashtra module case, for his alleged involvement in the fabrication of IEDs for terrorist activities.
Chargesheet under UAPA
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In December 2023, the agency filed a chargesheet against Sarkar and five other accused in this case, under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), for allegedly doing “recruitment and raising funds” for the ISIS. The NIA press release stated that the accused were found to be in possession of “incriminating material related to Hijra to Syria, along with propaganda magazines like ‘Voice of Hindi’ and ‘Voice of Khurasan’ published by ISIS.
Meanwhile, Barodawala and Aakif Nachan were also among the 11 accused chargesheeted by the central agency in the separate Pune ISIS module case in November 2023. According to the agency, these accused, between 2022 and 2023, allegedly organised and participated in a bomb-making and training workshop at a house in Kondhwa, where they also carried out a controlled explosion to test an IED fabricated by them.
They were alleged to have conducted bomb tests in the jungles of Pune and other places. Explosive material, tents, a drone, and several electronic devices were seized from their possession, the police said.
