IIT Guwahati student arrested for pledging allegiance to ISIS, another student under police radar

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaMarch 24, 2024

An Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG) student was arrested by Special Task Force (STF) of Assam Police, while another student was on police radar for pledging allegiance to radical terror group ISIS, police said here on Sunday.

Confirming the arrest, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said: “One student at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati has been arrested for his ties to the terrorist group ISIS.”

“There are two students and one has already been detained and Assam police will detain the other student today. The two students have reportedly pledged their allegiance to ISIS and have been radicalized,” the chief minister said.

The student- Tauseef Ali Farooqui, a student in the fourth semester of BTech of the Biotechnology Department of IITG, was detained from Dadara near Hajo in Kamrup district after he was captured by Hindu Jagaran Mancha on Saturday evening.

Touseef Ali Farooqui has been charged under section 120(B)/121(A)/123 IPC read with section 10/13 UA(P) Act.

He was produced before the court of the chief judicial magistrate of Kamrup Metro on Sunday and remanded to him to 10-day custody of STF.

Based on his confession, the sleuths of STF detained another student, police are looking for another student, a resident of hostel “Lohit.” 

A team of police personnel led by additional SP of STF Kalyan Pathak interrogated him for several hours in his hostel room on Sunday.

The police team also conducted raids at two hostels – “Lohit” and “Manas” on Sunday.

Tauseef Ali Farooqui, who hails from Batla House in Delhi, has claimed on a social media platform and email that he intended to join ISIS and went missing from the IITG campus.

However, he was spotted at Dadara by a group of members of Hindu Jagaran Mancha on Saturday evening and later was picked up by the STF.

Farooqui was charged under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). 

His disappearance aligns with an open letter on his LinkedIn profile named ‘An Open Letter’ on Saturday. Members of Hindu Jagaran Mancha caught him at Dadara. 

The police team also recovered a black flag similar to the ISIS flag and an Islamic manuscript. He was a loner and didn’t have friends on the campus, police said.

The letter outlined Farooqui’s radical beliefs and his choice to renounce Indian institutions and society, which he considers un-Islamic. He disclosed his ‘Hijrat’ (migration) to an ISIS-controlled region and his intention to fight for the group. The letter also revealed his planned travel route, beginning from Pan Bazar in Guwahati.

The letter stated Farooqui’s faith in Allah, disillusionment with secularism, break with ‘Kafirs’ (infidels), and a call for Hijrat. It also attempts to justify his actions by selectively interpreting Quranic verses and urging non-believers to convert to Islam.

The arrest of the IITG student came close on the heels of the arrest of the ISIS India head Haris Farooqi in Dhubri district after he allegedly crossed over from Bangladesh. 

ISIS India head Haris Farooqi’s role: ISIS India head Haris Farooqi and his close aide Anurag Sing alias Rehane were arrested by the STF in Dhubri sector of Indo- Bangladesh border on Wednesday. 

Haris Farooqi, hails from AgraDehradun and has been active since 2019, his associate Anurag Singh alias Rehan belongs to Panipat and converted to Islam. Rehane’s wife is a Bangladeshi national. Farooqi was suspected to be hiding in Bangladesh and carrying out radicalisation of Indians, sources said.

He has been instrumental in setting up modules in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Goa and Punjab.