An IIT-Guwahati student, who had allegedly pledged allegiance to ISIS, was arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act on Sunday, a senior official said here.
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.
Out of the two, Touseef Ali Farooqui, who is a 4th-year B Tech student of Bioscience department, was detained on Saturday. Assam Police’s Special Task Force (STF) Inspector General Parthasarathi Mahanta said that after interrogating him, 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.
Farooqui, who hails from Delhi, was arrested under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, he added. On Saturday, he was detained at Hajo in Kamrup district while he was on his way to join ISIS after allegedly pledging allegiance to the terror group.
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.
The IG said, “Further investigation is underway as of date and further rounds of questioning of the suspect are going on.” Meanwhile, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told reporters in Chirang, where he is on a tour for election campaigning, that police have got information about two students of IIT-Guwahati trying to join ISIS.
