UAPA slapped on IITian trying to join IS terrorists
IIT Guwahati student arrested under UAPA for attempting to join ISIS. Another student suspected, still at large. Police investigating links and intentions.
A 20-year-old student of IIT Guwahati has been arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Assam police officials said on Sunday, a day after he was held in Kamrup district of the state while trying to leave the country in an attempt to join the Islamic State.
Another student, also suspected to have links with the terror outfit, has been identified but the police are still looking for him, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who also holds the home portfolio, said.
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Of the two, Touseef Ali Farooqui, who is a 4th-year student in Bioscience department at IIT, was detained on Saturday.
Giving details of his arrest, Assam Police’s special task force officials said that an email that Touseef wrote his family was key.
Kalyan Kumar Pathak, additional superintendent of police, STF Assam, said that the officials received information through some local news portals and sprung into action.
“We saw the news and asked IIT Guwahati authorities if this person exists at all. They checked the hostel room and found that it was closed,” Pathak said.
The STF collected details of the student from the institute, from where he was found to be a resident of Manipur.
“His teachers and friends told us that Touseef used to stay in his room and had limited friends circle,” Pathak said.
Touseef had sent an email to his family members, IIT-G authorities and police, the STF found.
“He marked a top official of Assam police and the IIT-G authorities in the email where he used some symbols which were found to be similar to those used by IS. We called some experts to verify this,” Pathak said.
Touseef left his hostel room on Saturday afternoon, STF found. Soon, his photos and other details were sent to the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport, Guwahati, and railway stations.
“At around 7.30pm, we received an information that some locals have nabbed a boy at Damdama Bus Stand in Hajo, Kamrup, who looked like Touseef. Police rushed to the spot and identified him as the IIT-G student,” Pathak said.
He was taken to the STF office in Guwahati where police questioned him, Pathak said.
He said a black flag, “purportedly similar to that of ISIS”, was found in his hostel room and was being sent for verification to specialised agencies which deal with proscribed outfits.
“We are going through the items seized, it is early to say much. We are investigating the intention of sending the email. The student has given some details, but we cannot disclose anything further now,” Pathak added.
Assam director general of police (DGP) Gyanendra Pratap Singh, in a post on X, said on Saturday night: “Reference IIT-Guwahati student pledging allegiance to ISIS - the said student has been detained while travelling and further lawful follow up would take place.”
In a video that has surfaced on social media since Touseef can be seen preaching IS ideology to a crowd at the bus stop. HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.
His email contained a similar message, Pathak said.
The student was detained three days after the IS India head Haris Farooqi alias Harish Ajmal Farukhi and his associate Anurag Singh alias Rehan were arrested in Dhubri district after they had crossed over from Bangladesh.
Police said that Farooqi is a resident of Uttarakhand’s Dehradun while Anurag Singh is a resident of Haryana’s Panipat.
“Farooqi is the head of ISIS in India. His associate Anurag Singh got converted to Islam a few years back and moved to Bangladesh where he married a Bangladeshi national,” police said.
Police said that as per the initial investigation, both Farooqi and Singh are highly indoctrinated and motivated leaders of ISIS in India.
Assam STF inspector general Parthasarathi Mahanta said that the two entered Assam with a plan to create a network of the proscribed terror outfit in the northeast.
