NIA Court Sentences ISIS Recruiter to Six Years in Shivamogga Radicalisation Case

A special NIA court in Bengaluru has sentenced a key ISIS conspirator to six years of rigorous imprisonment for his role in a broader terror conspiracy involving radicalisation, recruitment, propaganda, and crypto-based funding linked to the Shivamogga module in Karnataka.

The accused, Arafath Ali of Shivamogga, had fled India in January 2020 to evade arrest and remained absconding for several years before being apprehended by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) at Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, in September 2023 upon his arrival from abroad.

According to the investigation, the case was originally registered by Karnataka Police in 2022 following extremist-linked activities in Shivamogga and was later taken over by the NIA for a wider probe into ISIS-inspired networks operating in India.

The court found him guilty under multiple provisions, including the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and criminal conspiracy charges, for actively participating in a Shivamogga ISIS terror module aimed at spreading extremist ideology and recruiting vulnerable youth.

Investigators established that he was in contact with an online ISIS handler and played a key role in radicalising and recruiting youth , as well as encouraging co-accused to carry out inflammatory graffiti campaigns in Mangaluru in support of ISIS and other banned organisations, including the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) .

The probe further revealed that Arafath acted as a cryptocurrency-based terror funding conduit , receiving funds from overseas handlers and distributing them among members of the module, strengthening its operational network.

The conspiracy, as detailed by the agency, was aimed at inciting communal disharmony and spreading violent unrest. Earlier, two other accused in the same case were sentenced to six years in November 2025, while multiple arrests followed NIA’s takeover of the investigation.

In total, 12 accused have been chargesheeted in the case. With the latest conviction, three have now been sentenced, while trial proceedings against the remaining nine accused are ongoing.