The National Investigation Agency  filed a supplementary charge sheet with a special court against a suspected operative of the al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) in a case of conspiracy for propagating activities of the proscribed terror group in India.

Abu Sufiyan of West Bengal’s Murshidabad was charged under relevant sections of the Explosives Substance Act, an official from the anti-terror investigation agency informed.

The case was first registered in September 2020 against an individual named Murshid Hasan and a few other members of the AQIS module that was active in Delhi, West Bengal and Kerala. They were allegedly in an advanced stage of chalking out a conspiracy to carry out terror attacks in several parts of the country, the NIA official said.

A charge sheet was previously filed against 11 accused, including Sufiyan, under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Arms Act in February this year.

“Sufiyan was involved in the conspiracy with other co-accused for furthering the activities of AQIS in India. Earlier, during a search conducted at his premises in Murshidabad in 2020, various incriminating materials used for making bombs/IEDs were recovered,” the NIA official said, according to news agency PTI.

Sufiyan had reportedly gathered the technical knowledge online about making bombs and subsequently purchased raw materials. He then created a storage dump in his house to fabricate improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

The NIA official said that further investigation is underway in the case.