After verification, the NIA carried out searches at three places (two in Kasaragod and one in Palakkad) on Sunday.

New Delhi/Kochi: The National Investigation Agency has arrested a man who is a follower of Sri Lankan Easter bombing mastermind Zahran Hashim, on the charge of conspiring to carry out a suicide attack in Kerala, an NIA spokesperson said. Riyas Aboobacker, who was arrested on Monday and produced on Tuesday before the NIA court in Kochi, was remanded to judicial custody till May 29. The court also posted till May 6 an application by the NIA seeking five-day custody of Riyas.

An NIA spokesperson said 29-year-old Riyas A, also known as Riyas Aboobacker or Abu Dujana, a resident of Palakkad, was picked up on Sunday over the ISIS module case. During interrogation, Riyas said he had been following the speeches/videos of Hashim for over a year, and also followed speeches by controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik.

“He admitted he wanted to carry out a suicide attack in Kerala”, the spokesperson said. He disclosed he had been in online contact with absconding accused Abdul Rashid Abdulla, aka Abu Isa, for a long time and was following his audio clips, including the clip which he had circulated on social media platforms instigating others to carry out terror attacks in India.

He revealed he was also having an online chat with Abdul Khayoom, aka Abu Khalid, (accused in the Valapattanam ISIS case), who was believed to be in Syria.

The NIA earlier got inputs that a group of four persons had been in contact with some of the accused — Abdul Rashid, Ashfaq Majeed, Abdul Khayoom — who had already migrated to Afghanistan and Syria.

After verification, the NIA carried out searches at three places (two in Kasaragod and one in Palakkad) on Sunday.