Guwahati: A fourth-year student of IIT Guwahati was arrested and slapped with the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act on Sunday after he allegedly pledged allegiance to ISIS on social media.
The student, identified as Tauseef Ali Farooqui, hailed from Delhi, police said. He was held in Assam's Kamrup district on Saturday evening.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who also holds the Home portfolio, said that two students of IIT-Guwahati have been identified as having links with ISIS and trying to join the group, but one of them is "not found" as of now.
Assam Police's Special Task Force (STF) Inspector General Parthasarathi Mahanta said that after interrogating the student, police found credible evidence of his links with ISIS and he was arrested on Sunday.
"We produced him in the court, which has sent him to police custody for 10 days. We also carried out a search in his hostel room inside the IIT-Guwahati campus," Mahanta said.
A black flag resembling the ISIS flag and some literature was seized from his hostel room, police said.
Chief Minister Sarma said the youth was found to be highly indoctrinated. He also said that central agencies have been intimated accordingly.
According to police, the youth, apart from pledging his support to ISIS on social media, also sent an email announcing his decision to join the terror group. As a search was launched over his email, the student was caught by some locals near Hajo, about 20km away from the IIT, and was handed over to the police.
Detention of the youth came four days after ISIS "India head" Haris Farooqi alias Harish Ajmal Farukhi and his associate Anurag Singh alias Rehan were arrested in western Assam's Dhubri district after they had crossed over from Bangladesh. Police said Farooqi and Rehan were planning to carry out IED explosions across India.
Published 24 March 2024, 22:19 IST