Searches were conducted at Padgha-Borivali region near Mumbai and Ratnagiri in Maharashtra, Delhi, Kolkata, and Uttar Pradesh

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday (December 11, 2025) searched about 40 locations across multiple States in connection with a case involving an ISIS-linked module under probed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The searches covered the premises of the accused, their close associates and family members, and entities with financial links or suspicious monetary transactions with them. They included the Padgha-Borivali region near Mumbai and Ratnagiri in Maharashtra, Delhi, Kolkata, and Uttar Pradesh.

The charge sheets filed by the NIA in its case, based on which the ED is investigating the alleged money-laundering angle, revealed that the accused were part of a “highly radicalised ISIS-linked module” and were engaged in recruitment, training, procurement of weapons and explosives, and raising funds to sustain the group’s operations.

“Intelligence inputs were also received from ATS (Anti-Terror Squad), Mumbai, revealing illegal cutting, smuggling, and sale of khair (Kaith) wood, with the proceeds suspected to be used for supporting extremist activities,” said an official. In October 2024, the ATS had arrested five people for alleged involvement in khair wood smuggling with terror links.

The NIA case was against Saquib Nachan, the former national general secretary of the banned outfit Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). He was accused of being the main conspirator and had allegedly administered “pledge and allegiance to ISIS” to the youth in his community. The accused had also established one “Al Sham”-like area in Padgha village (Maharasthra), where sharia law was enforced. While in judicial custody, he died in a Delhi hospital on June 28, 2025, after suffering a brain haemorrhage.

The case was earlier probed by the Delhi Police Special Cell, which arrested three persons who were allegedly in touch with Saquib Nachan and a foreign ISIS handler, Sultan Sikandar. On their direction, the three were collecting materials for making explosives.

On December 9, 2023, the NIA had raided 42 locations in Pune & Padgha-Borivali (including surrounding locations), following which 15 persons were arrested. Of them, as alleged, eight were earlier connected to SIMI. “Their main objective was to establish Khilafat and formation of the State of Islam which will rule by Shariya,” as per the government records.

The seized articles included a firearm, an improvised explosive device, powder-like material suspected to be explosive substances, steel pellets, matchstick box, iron pipes, fuse, brown powder, batteries, a watch, wires, an electric weighing machine and a remote.