IS Twitter handler knew charges he would be facing

Did Mehdi Masroor Biswas, the handler of an influential pro-IS Twitter account, who was arrested by the City police in the early hours of Saturday, have a clear idea of the charges on which he would be booked?

If one were to go by the second interview of him published by Channel 4, a British news channel, late Friday night, Mehdi very well knew that he would be arrested within 24 hours and booked on the charges of waging war against India or its allies. In fact, the police have now booked him under Section 125 of the Indian Penal Code (waging war against any Asiatic Power in alliance with the Government of India).

In an interview to the reporter of Channel 4, hours before the police arrested him, Mehdi had said: “I haven’t done anything wrong. I’ve not harmed anybody, I haven't broken any laws of the country, haven’t waged any war against the Republic of India... Also, I’ve not waged any war against any allies of India. But they might bring that charge (sic).”

According to the report, Mehdi told his interviewer on Friday that he will not resist arrest. But, had said that he feared dying in an encounter. “I have a suspicion that the police will come to arrest me. They may try to kill me and then they will say that I attacked them and they killed me in an encounter (sic).”

“And, I do not have any sort of weapons with me,” he said, adding that he will immediately surrender and what happens after that is a different thing. But I have no intentions of resisting,” the report said.

To a query by the Channel 4 reporter on why he thinks he may be arrested, the IS supporter had said: “They are saying it in the media. There’s a manhunt going on right now and they won’t take more than 24 hours.”

Only said ‘stuff’: Mehdi
Mehdi had said that he only said “stuff” which people followed and that he also followed people on Twitter. “I only know what IS fighters or sympathisers said in public,” he claimed, adding that he could not believe that his story was trending on news across the globe....I thought it will die down in the first one or two hours, but it is still raging. I can’t believe this.” The interview, however, ends abruptly after 2.21 minutes.