Kolkata: An encrypted Telegram channel – ‘Purber Akash’ – was being used by terror leadership to build an extensive underground network spanning Bengal, Assam and Kerala, NIA investigators have found. This comes after NIA arrested 13 suspected terror operatives in the country, including four in Bengal, on Tuesday.The Telegram channel is operated by Bangladeshi terror outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).JMB senior Imam Mahmud Habibullah established spinoff extremist group Imam Mahmud’s Khilafa (IMK) – of which the arrested operatives were members – to promote JMB’s radical agenda, radicalise vulnerable youth and establish operational bases across Indian soil using the encrypted channel, NIA sources said.Following multi-state raids on Tuesday, NIA arrested four key operatives from Bengal for their alleged roles in the cross-border terror conspiracy and 13 overall from all over the country. The arrested individuals have been identified as Sheikh Jumman Hossain and Saharul Haque Purkait from Budge Budge in South 24 Parganas, Piyar Mohammad Sheikh from Mangalkot in East Bardhaman and Abdur Rafiq from Canning.NIA invoked charges related to criminal conspiracy, waging war against the nation and endangering national sovereignty, and charges under UAPA provisions against the four arrested on Tuesday. They were produced before a special NIA court in Kolkata and have been remanded to five days of NIA custody before their transit to Guwahati for further interrogation.Investigative details revealed that the operatives maintained cover identities — one posing as a tailor and another as an imam — while actively recruiting for JMB and IMK.‘Purber Akash’ was used to conduct meetings, circulate jihadist literature and organise religious indoctrination programmes. The group also actively collected terror funds under the ‘Baitul Mal’ crowdfunding mechanism.The arrests stem from a core terror module case initially registered by NIA in Guwahati.
