Mehdi supported 'free Kashmir': Police

Mehdi Masroor Biswas, whom the Bengaluru police have charge-sheeted for handling a pro-Islamic State (IS) Twitter account, “supported” a “Free Kashmir” and “urged revenge” for the killings of Muslims in the 2002 Gujarat communal violence.

Biswas, who was initially booked for waging war against an Asiatic power in alliance with the government of India under Section 125 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), has now been charged with waging war against India under Section 121. The basis for invoking Section 121 is that he “urged” people within the country and outside to fight for a “Free Kashmir”, a top police officer said. Punishment for waging war against India is death or life imprisonment, along with fine. “During investigation, we found that he had asked people from within the country and others to fight for a Free Kashmir. He also tweeted the photographs of Gujarat riot victims, which intended creating enmity within the country,” the officer told Deccan Herald on Thursday.

As per the 36,986-page charge sheet filed on Monday, Biswas’s Twitter page @ShamiWitness contained several tweets on “Free Kashmir”. He has thus been booked not only for waging war against other countries but also within the country, the official said. The charge sheet names Biswas as the only accused and contains a huge data of tweets and technical evidence.

According to a source, Biswas posted 1,22,203 tweets on his page between December 2010 and December 2014. He was arrested from his flat in Jalahalli in December 2014.

Biswas devoted hours together to updating himself about the latest developments about the IS. The officer said, “He used to spend at least six hours a day on the Internet, doing an extensive research about the IS and following their news unfailingly. The minute there was any development in the IS or that region, he used to immediately tweet about it, thus attracting many followers from different countries.”

Biswas would get active after 10 pm and keep tweeting until the early hours. He posted the highest number of tweets—8,811—in May 2014. A majority of his tweets contained photographs of IS leaders, maps, pictorial images of the Levant region, photographs of people who died fighting for the IS attached with condolence messages and images showing people from Kazakhstan, China, Pakistan and other countries attending classes conducted by the militant group.

“Instigating” communal violence also appeared to be on his to-do list. The officer said: “If the activities in the IS region increased so would his tweets. He was more like a news feeder to people following him. Mehdi used to update everything happening in the Levant region. He had also tweeted that his account was suspended by Kuffar (infidels) for reasons unknown but he used to get back by using his technical skills and asked his followers to spread his Twitter page to people across the world.”

HIS TWEETS

-> Taliban vows support to ISIS fighter

-> More than 1,000 Al-Nusra front fighters joined force with ISIS in a single week

-> Secular laws are under my foot

-> We opened 57 free public restaurants in Raqqa city which provided three meals a day for any resident.