The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has taken up the probe after Karnataka Police invoked the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against the 21-year-old arrested in the IS radicalisation case. (File photo)The National Investigation Agency has taken over the Bhadravathi IS radicalisation case in Karnataka’s Shivamogga, involving a 21-year-old electronics showroom employee arrested in August over alleged links with Islamic State handlers. The move follows Karnataka Police invoking the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), with investigators probing suspected contacts with an IS module and alleged preparations involving improvised explosive devices.The state police had arrested Mohammed Ghouse, an electronics store employee in Shivamogga’s Bhadravathi in the case, sources familiar with the development said.Initially, the Karnataka Police had pressed charges for alleged involvement in a domestic terrorist act. Following further investigations, the police invoked the stringent UAPA in the case, facilitating an NIA investigation of alleged terrorist connections and actions of the youth.Also read | NIA nabs key conspirator in Bengaluru RSS worker’s murder“The youth is connected to an IS module that was found in Uttar Pradesh earlier this year following the arrest of Haris Ali, 19, a dental student,” an officer with the Bhadravathi case said.The investigations by the local police in the Bhadravathi case revealed that Ghouse had received screenshots on his mobile phone regarding the making of Improvised Explosive Devices and had secured some materials for making IEDs. He is alleged to have been in contact with an IS handler and a local associate in Karnataka.“He was radicalised and had taken up a hardcore ideology,” police sources said.Ghouse moved court for bail in September, and it is yet to hear the matter.Story continues below this adIn March, the UP Anti-Terrorism Squad arrested a second-year BDS student Haris Ali in Moradabad for alleged links to an Islamic State module. The arrest was made following intelligence inputs that a few persons in UP and other parts of the country were in contact with IS handlers based in Pakistan.The suspects were using encrypted messaging applications such as Session and Discord to communicate and recruit more people for unlawful activities, the UP Police had alleged in March.