NIA sends seized gadgets to C-DAC for data retrieval

Sleuths of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), who had seized electronic devices, such as cellular phones and laptops, after raiding the residences and offices of a few participants of the ‘Shahadat (martyrdom) is our purpose’ WhatsApp group, have despatched them to the Knowledge Resource Centre (KRC), a department of the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), for retrieval of statistics.

Sources stated the three laptops and as many tough disks, sixteen cellular phones, eight SIM playing cards, two pen drives, five reminiscence cards and a card reader, seized from the accused in Kilakarai and Devipattinam inside the district and from locations in other districts, have been despatched to KRC – C-DAC in Thiruvananthapuram for retrieving statistics, deleted messages and video clips.

KRC, which acted as C-DAC’s software education middle and provided degree applications in cybersecurity and forensics, knew to decode coded messages and retrieving deleted data.

NIA sleuths had seized the electronic gadgets in May. They had additionally performed searches at Muthupet in Tiruvarur district, Lalpet in Cuddalore and Salem.

The accused have been energetic in an one-of-a-kind WhatsApp organization and had conspired to elevate price range you bought palms to take away individuals who spoke in opposition to Islam. Initially, the NIA believed that the accused had been ‘novices’ who made a useless bid you acquire a pistol, however, specific research revealed that they’d established a strong network with Coimbatore-based totally Kaha Mohideen, leader of a radical outfit, who believed in putting in place a unit of the Islamic State in India, sources stated.

After the district police busted the WhatsApp institution and arrested 10 accused in April 2018, the NIA took over the investigation in February 2019 and re-tested the accused, most of whom had been on bail, and witnesses. As part of the investigation, a DSP attached to the NIA summoned a suspect right here an ultimate week and validated a few Facebook pages after securing the password from him, resources said.

NIA sleuths are possible to proceed also based totally at the information retrieved from the digital gadgets, resources stated.

The sleuths had also seized lots of ‘incriminating documents’, literature and books on IS, Jihad and Shahadat in the course of the searches.