He wanted to join ISIS
An IIT-Guwahati student has been detained after he allegedly pledged allegiance to ISIS in Assam’s Hajo on Saturday. The fourth-year Biotechnology student named Tauseef Farooqi recently claimed on a social media platform and emails that he intended to join the terror outfit and went missing from the IIT-Guwahati campus. This also helped in the arrest of ISIS India head Haris Farooqi in Dhubri district after he allegedly crossed over from Bangladesh.
Police took instant action
According to police sources, a lookout alert was issued for the student, who is a resident of Delhi, after he wrote an open letter on LinkedIn informing the reason for his decision. He was found in Hajo, around 30 km from Guwahati, in Kamrup district and detained for interrogation. When police contacted the IIT-Guwahati authorities, they informed that said student had been “missing’ since noon and his mobile phone was also switched off.
He supported ISIS
Reference IIT Guwahati student pleading to join and support to ISIS – the said student has been detained while travelling and further lawful follow up would take place,” Director-General of Police GP Singh posted on X.
Official statement by Kalyan Kumar
Additional Superintendent of Police (STF) Kalyan Kumar Pathak said, “After receiving an email, we verified the authenticity of the contents and started an investigation.” The email was sent by the student, in which he claimed that he was on the way to join ISIS. Special Task Force sources said that he was taken to his hostel room where cops recovered a black flag similar to the ISIS flag and an Islamic manuscript. He was a loner and didn’t have friends on the campus, police said.
Haris Farooqi
Haris Farooqi, who has been active since 2019, was arrested along with his associates on Wednesday by the Assam police. His associate Anurag Singh also know as Rehan belongs to Panipat and converted to Islam. His wife is a Bangladeshi national. Farooqi was suspected to be hiding in Bangladesh and carrying out radicalisation of Indians, sources said. He has been actively involved in setting up modules in Jharkhand, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Punjab, Maharashtra and Karnataka. Farooqui, who is from Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh, was wanted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).