NIA files chargesheet in Kerala against SIMI members

NEW DELHI - The National Investigation Agency Thursday filed a chargesheet against 17 members of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India outfit for holding a “seditious” secret meeting in 2006 in Kerala.

The chargesheet was filed in a special court in Ernakulam.

A press release issued Thursday said that NIA presented a chargesheet against 17 accused at the special court of NIA at Ernakulam “after obtaining statutory sanction for prosecution from the competent authority of the Government of India”, citing that the evidence leads to a prima facie case has been well-established.

The allegation is that on Aug 15, 2006, a secret meeting was held at Happy Auditorium, Panayikulam, which was “anti-government and was seditious, inflammatory, creating religious animosity and above all provocative in nature”.