The National Investigation Agency (NIA) probing the missing of Keralites associated with activities of the Islamic State (IS) in South India, has identified the key leader of a local IS module for propagating terror activities in India.

The identity of Abu Ayisha, a Kerala native has not yet been confirmed by NIA. There are also doubts whether Shajeer Mangalassery from Kozhikode, who is an NIT graduate noted for propagating IS ideas through social media, is operating under the alias Abu Ayisha.

On Monday, NIA had raided Shajeer’s house in Kozhikode.

The New Indian Express reports that Shajeer had already moved to Afghanistan and had been communicating regularly with Indian IS sympathisers.

In October, the NIA officials had arrested six IS sympathisers who were holding a meeting in Kanakamala area of Kozhikode.

“The IS members used to receive messages from Abu Ayisha through telegram. The initial inquiry revealed that Abu Ayisha instigated members of the module to wage war against the nation and the Government of India. We suspect that ‘Abu Ayisha’ is Shajeer himself, who has also been actively propagating the IS ideology through Facebook, under the profile name Sameer Ali,” NIA officials told The New Indian Express.

The report also says that Abu Ayisha acted as a link between local IS modules and the 22 missing persons from Kerala, who reportedly shifted to Afghanistan to join the IS.