Guwahati: The Special Task Force (STF) of Assam police has detained a student of Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati (IIT Guwahati) for allegedly pledging allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and was reportedly on his way to join the terror group.
The fourth-year Biotechnology student of the premier institute, who recently expressed his intention of joining ISIS on social media platforms and through emails, went missing from the institute’s campus on Saturday noon.
In a hurriedly called press briefing at the STF police station in Guwahati late Saturday night, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) of STF, Kalyan Kumar Pathak, said that there had been reports that an IIT Guwahati student has been missing, and prior to this, he had sent emails to many people expressing his intention to join the ISIS.
“Upon receiving information, we first verified the authenticity of the content of the emails sent by the student, and soon, we started our investigation. We contacted the IIT Guwahati authorities during which it was confirmed that a Biotechnology fourth-year student, a resident of the Jamia Nagar locality in Delhi’s Okhla, had been missing since Saturday noon, and his mobile phone was switched off too. As it had been ascertained that the student is missing, we worked on tracing him out. Though a lookout alert was issued everywhere, including the railway stations and the airport, it yielded no concrete result. Subsequently, at around 7 pm, we received information about his presence in the Hajo area, which is around 22 kilometres from his institute. With the help of the local people, he was apprehended. We brought him to the STF office in Guwahati for initial questioning. We are now verifying and trying to find out the reason and his motive behind sending the emails,” ASP Pathak said.
The ASP said that during a search of his institute’s hostel room, a black flag, which resembles the ISIS flag, was recovered.
“A black flag has been found in his hostel room but only the specialised agencies could ascertain to which organisation it belongs to. We will send the sample of the flag to the special agencies that deal with such things of the proscribed organisations. They will verify and tell us to which organisation the flag actually belongs to, but from prima facie it appears that it is a black flag, purportedly similar to the ISIS. He has been in IIT Guwahati for the past four years and this is his final year. What we have learnt is he likes to be alone, and usually does not mix up with people,” he added.
ASP Pathak further said that the student is currently being questioned and he has given some details which cannot be disclosed immediately.
In a midnight post on microblogging site X, Assam Director General of Police (DGP) Gyanendra Pratap Singh wrote, “Reference @IITGuwahati student pledging allegiance to ISIS - the said student has been detained while travelling and further lawful follow up would take place.”
This comes just three days after the STF arrested the NIA-wanted ISIS India head Haris Farooqi alias Harish Ajmal Farukhi, and one of his associates Anurag Singh alias Rehan in Assam’s Dhubri district after they crossed over from Bangladesh to carry out sabotage activities.