Zakir Naik influenced terror group planned mass killing by poisoning Prasad in Mumbra temple: ATS

The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Wednesday filed charge sheet in a Mumbai Court against nine members of a terror group inspired by controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, who were allegedly planning to poison the prasad given to devotees at a temple in Mumbra near Mumbai.

The suspects were arrested in January this year by the ATS for their alleged links with ISIS terror outfit.

According to the charge sheet, the accused were influenced by the Islamic preacher Zakir Naik and had conspired to commit mass killing by poisoning the prasad during the 'Srimad Bhagavad Gita Katha' at the Shankar Temple of Mumbra in December.

They failed in carrying out the operation and were arrested before they could make their next move, the charge sheet added.

"The ATS had recently come to the temple with the arrested persons and asked some questions from the trustees and priests. Over 8,000 to 10,000 people come here every day so, we could not identify them or give any information," said one of the temple trustee Vishnu Patil.

Upon their arrest in January, police had claimed to have confiscated a huge cache of incriminating material from their possession including several chemical bottles, six pen drives, more than two dozen cell phones, over half a dozen laptops, six wi-fi pods, more than two dozen DVDs and CDs, a dozen of hard drives, more than half dozen memory cards, some internet dongles, few modems and more than a dozen RAMs.

The accused were reportedly in touch with someone from ISIS based outside India.

Senior ATS official had also informed that the nine arrested had formed an organisation named 'Ummat-e-Ahmadiya'.