The National Investigation Agency has dropped terrorism charges against four men arrested last year for allegedly planning terror attacks in the National Capital Region and attempting to establish an “Islamic State caliphate”, The Hindu reported on Saturday. The four were released from prison earlier this month after serving time for six months.

A senior government official said no evidence was found against Mohammad Irshad, Raees Ahmad, Zaid Malik, and Mohamamd Azam. “The NIA said in court that sufficient evidence was not found against them but investigations will continue,” the newspaper quoted MS Khan, the lawyer representing the four men, as saying.

Irshad and Ahmad are residents of the city of Amroha in Uttar Pradesh while Malik and Azam were arrested from their homes in East Delhi. The National Investigating Agency, in a statement last year, accused Irshad of helping prime accused Mohammad Suhail arrange “a hideout for keeping the material for making IEDs [improvised explosive devices] and bombs”.

The agency also alleged that Ahmad and his brother Saeed were responsible for procuring a huge amount of explosive substance for making improvised explosive devices and pipe bombs. It accused them of being involved in “fabricating a rocket launcher to carry out terrorist attacks”.

Meanwhile, a chargesheet was filed against 10 others on Sunday in a special court in Delhi’s Patiala House. The investigating agency said the group wanted to manufacture improvised explosive devices that would be detonated through remote-control, adding that two of the accused had taken videos that would have been made public after their planned suicide attacks.

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