IIT-Guwahati student detained after announcing intention to join ISIS

Students of IIT Guwahati were detained in Assam’s Harjo on Saturday.

Guwahati:

A student of IIT Guwahati has been detained for allegedly pledging allegiance to the Islamic State in Harjo, Assam, on Saturday. The fourth-year biotechnology student, who recently claimed on social media platforms and emails that he intended to join a terrorist group, went missing from the IIT Guwahati campus.

Earlier, the Indian leader of the Islamic State, Haris Farooqi, was arrested in Dhubri district after allegedly crossing the border from Bangladesh.

According to police sources, the Delhi-based student wrote an open letter on LinkedIn outlining the reasons for his decision, following which a vigilance alert was issued to him. He was found in Harjo, Kamrup district, about 30 kilometers from Guwahati and was detained for interrogation.

When the police contacted IIT Guwahati authorities, they learned that the student was “missing” since noon and his phone was switched off.

Police Commissioner GP Singh posted on

“After receiving the email, we verified the authenticity of the content and started investigation,” Superintendent of Police (STF) Kalyan Kumar Pathak said. The email was sent by the student, who In the email, he claimed that he was joining ISIS.

He was taken to his dormitory room, where police found a black flag similar to the Islamic State flag and an Islamic manuscript, task force sources said. Police said he was withdrawn and had no friends on campus.

Haris Farooqi, who has been active since 2019, and his associates were arrested by Assam police on Wednesday. His colleague Anurag Singh alias Rehan belonged to Panipat and converted to Islam. His wife is a Bangladeshi national. Sources said Farooqi is suspected of radicalizing Indians while hiding in Bangladesh.

He was instrumental in setting up modules in Jharkhand, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Punjab, Maharashtra and Karnataka. Faruqui hails from Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh and is wanted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).