Parents meet IIT-Guwahati student arrested under UAPA

Guwahati: The parents of the IIT-Guwahati student, who had allegedly pledged allegiance to ISIS and was arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, on Saturday met their son, a senior police official said.

The parents of Touseef Ali Farouqui, a fourth-year B Tech student of the Bioscience department, arrived here on Friday and met him at the police station where he is in custody. The official, however, did not divulge what transpired during the meeting or how long it lasted.

The student was scheduled to be produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court next on April 4.

The accused was detained on March 23 at Hajo in Kamrup district of Assam and arrested the next day under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and UAPA.

Meanwhile, some students of the IIT-G have expressed surprise that Farouqui would send an email to people stating that he was going to join ISIS.

"He was an introvert and did not mingle with us. He mostly remained in his room but we are surprised that he sent an email to announce his intentions," one of his classmates said on condition of anonymity.

The mother of a third-year female student told PTI it was a matter of concern as this is the first time that an IIT student was arrested for alleged allegiance to an international terror outfit.

"It appears that the student has been suffering from some mental health issues and needs counselling," she added.

An IITG spokesperson told PTI that the institute plans to conduct a thorough internal investigation on the matter and wants to 'avert a situation of panic on the campus due to this unfortunate development'.

At present, many students and faculty are away from the campus due to festivals and weekend holidays, he said.

"The Institute plans to come up with a thorough action plan to deal with the situation after a detailed internal consultation," the spokesperson added.

Assam Police's Special Task Force (STF) Inspector General Parthasarathi Mahanta had earlier said that after interrogating him, police found credible evidence of his links with ISIS and he was arrested.

The student was detained three days after the ISIS 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.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had also said that the police have got information about two students of IIT-Guwahati trying to join ISIS and one of them has been arrested but the other one was yet to be traced. Both the students hail from Delhi.

Sarma also said that the central agencies have been informed accordingly.

STF Additional Superintendent of Police Kalyan Kumar Pathak had told reporters that the student had sent an email, in which he claimed that he was on the way to join ISIS.

A black flag, 'purportedly similar to that of ISIS', was found in his hostel room and has been sent for verification to specialised agencies which deal with proscribed outfits.