Hyderabad: National Investigation Agency (NIA) officials on Monday questioned an engineering student from Ramagundam in Telangana and seized electronic devices as part of an ongoing probe into a cyber terrorism case being investigated by the agency’s Ahmedabad unit. Police said the student has been issued a notice to appear before NIA investigators in Ahmedabad.An NIA team visited the student’s residence in Ramagundam and questioned him regarding his alleged interaction with an accused in the case, which was originally registered in 2025 and later taken over by the NIA.“I was added to a Telegram group about a year ago and I thought it was for learning AI tools. Later, I realised the operators were involved in a case and arrested. I exited from the group. The NIA team asked me about the activity in the Telegram group. They checked my laptop, cell phone and left,” the student told media personnel.Ramagundam commissioner of police Ambar Kishor Jha confirmed that NIA officials had questioned the student. “The NIA issued a notice to the student and asked him to appear at NIA office in Ahmedabad for questioning. They have seized some electronic devices from the student,” said a senior police officer.Police clarified that the student’s role, if any, is yet to be established and that the questioning was part of the agency’s ongoing investigation.The case stems from the arrest of 18-year-old Jasim Shahnawaz Ansari from Nadiad by the Gujarat anti-terrorism squad (ATS) on May 19, 2025, over allegations related to cyber terrorism. The NIA’s Ahmedabad unit subsequently took over the probe and re-registered the case.According to the NIA, the case relates to alleged acts of cyber terrorism involving distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks targeting govt websites.“The case was related to acts of cyber terrorism through DDoS attacks on websites. Jasim, along with a juvenile, conspired to launch multiple DDoS attacks on various govt websites between March and May 2025. They also posted anti-national content, sharing inflammatory messages in retaliation to Operation Sindoor on a Telegram channel,” the NIA said in a statement.The NIA filed the chargesheet against Jasim in Aug 2025 under section 66F (punishment for cyber terrorism) of the Information Technology Act read with section 61(2)(a) (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
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