JUDGMENT :

P.B. Suresh Kumar, J.

1. This appeal is preferred invoking Section 21 of the National Investigation Agency Act, 2008 (NIA Act) challenging an order passed by the Special Court for Trial of NIA cases, Ernakulam (the Special Court), dismissing an application for bail submitted by the appellant who is the fifth accused in RC No. 02/2023/NIA/KOC.

2. The appellant was arrested on 09.01.2024 and immediately thereupon the final report in the case was filed on 12.01.2024. The materials placed on record indicate that the Central Government had received credible information that an ISIS/IS-KP Module, a proscribed terrorist organization, was working in secrecy for the purpose of committing acts prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India by conspiring to target certain prominent members of the society and religious places of other communities to commit terrorist acts and create communal disharmony in the society; that as part of the larger conspiracy of the ISIS/IS-KP, the members of the module identified gullible Muslim youths and radicalised them through encrypted communication channels to join ISIS/IS-KP and that in order to raise funds for furthering the activities of IS