The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday filed a charge-sheet against two alleged Islamic State sympathisers in Bengaluru for their alleged involvement in forming a group to further the activities of the dreaded global terror group in India, an official said. Abdul Cader and Irfan Nasir have been charged before a special court in Bengaluru under sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Unlawful Activities and (Prevention) Act, the NIA official said. They were part of a group which identified 'impressionable Muslim youths', motivated and radicalised them, and provided funds for their visit to Syria to further the ideology and activities of the banned terrorist group IS or ISIS, the official said.

The case was registered by the NIA in September 2020 after the examination of Dr Abdur Rahman in an Islamic State Khorasan province case, who was motivated and sent to Syria to join ISIS in 2013-14 by the terrorist group formed by the accused in the case, according to the NIA official. The NIA had busted the ISIS module wherein, the names of various persons responsible for radicalising and funding the visits of Muslim youth from Bengaluru and Karnataka to ISIS-controlled areas emerged, the official said.

Cader, Nasir and some of their associates, who are members of the Hizb-ut-Tahrir, an international Islamist and fundamentalist organisation, had formed a group namely Quran Circle to further their ISIS-related activities, the NIA official said. Based on the forensic examination of digital devices seized during the search and meticulous analysis of funds raised and provided by the members of Quran Circle, roles of various accused and suspects located abroad and in India, emerged which are under investigation in the case, the official said. Cader a techied based in Chennai and Irfan, a rice seller based in Bengaluru was arrested in October 2020.