A special National Investigation Agency court has sentenced 15 people to rigorous imprisonment for terms ranging between five and 10 years in connection with an Islamic State conspiracy.

The IS, a proscribed terrorist organisation, had allegedly hatched a criminal conspiracy to establish its base in India by recruiting youths through social media platforms.

In a statement, the NIA said on Saturday that the case had been registered in December 2015 and that the accused were arrested during country-wide searches.

According to the NIA, the accused persons had formed an organisation named Junood-ul-Khilafa-Fil-Hind, which sought to establish a Caliphate in India and pledged allegiance to the IS, to recruit youths and carry out terror activities in India at the behest of one Syria-based Yusuf Al Hindi.

“After the arrest of (the) ISIS terrorists, their activities were minimised,” the statement added.