NIA team in Belagavi searching for associates of IS suspects

Source: DECCAN CHRONICLE

NIA visited Azam Nagar in the city, from where several people with alleged links to banned SIMI were arrested a few years ago.
A team of National Investigative Agency (NIA) has reportedly camped in the city since Friday and trying to trace some people, who allegedly made calls to Islamic State suspects, arrested from different parts of the state recently.

The NIA team visited Azam Nagar in the city, from where several people with alleged links to the banned SIMI were arrested a few years ago. But it is not clear whether the NIA team interrogated anyone.

It is believed that some of the phone calls received by the arrested generated from Belagavi and attempts are being made to trace the callers. So far, no one has been arrested in Belagavi, sources said.

In the past, 11 youth from Belagavi were arrested for their alleged links with banned organisations, including SIMI. Some of them were charged with regularly attending meetings organised by SIMI and others were allegedly involved in developing an LPG bomb.

When asked about the visit of NIA officials, local police authorities said that they were unaware of any such visit. The NIA is an independent agency with powers to conduct inquiries and investigations without anybody’s assistance, police sources said.

A few days ago, the police had beefed up security at the Belagavi airport and Suvarna Vidhana Soudha after it was revealed that several arrested terror suspects had planned to target important installations across the state.

A team of top police officials had visited the airport and Suvarna Vidhan Soudha to review the security cover a few days ago. A youth arrested while taking photos of prohibited areas in Belagavi airport recently is still in police custody.