Parents meet IIT-Guwahati student arrested under UAPA for alleged ISIS link | India News

The parents of the IIT-Guwahati student, who had allegedly pledged allegiance to ISIS and was arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, on Saturday met their son, a senior police official said.

The parents of Touseef Ali Farouqui, a fourth-year B Tech student of the Bioscience department, arrived here on Friday and met him at the police station where he is in custody.

The official, however, did not divulge what transpired during the meeting or how long it lasted.

The student was scheduled to be produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court next on April 4.

The accused was detained on March 23 at Hajo in Kamrup district of Assam and arrested the next day under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and UAPA.

Meanwhile, some students of the IIT-G have expressed surprise that Farouqui would send an email to people stating that he was going to join ISIS.

“He was an introvert and did not mingle with us. He mostly remained in his room but we are surprised that he sent an email to announce his intentions,” one of his classmates said on condition of anonymity.

 

The mother of a third-year female student told PTI it was a matter of concern as this is the first time that an IIT student was arrested for alleged allegiance to an international terror outfit.

“It appears that the student has been suffering from some mental health issues and needs counselling,” she added.

An IITG spokesperson told PTI that the institute plans to conduct a thorough internal investigation on the matter and wants to “avert a situation of panic on the campus due to this unfortunate development”.

At present, many students and faculty are away from the campus due to festivals and weekend holidays, he said.

“The Institute plans to come up with a thorough action plan to deal with the situation after a detailed internal consultation,” the spokesperson added.

Assam Police’s Special Task Force (STF) Inspector General Parthasarathi Mahanta had earlier said that after interrogating him, police found credible evidence of his links with ISIS and he was arrested.

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.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had also said that the police have got information about two students of IIT-Guwahati trying to join ISIS and one of them has been arrested but the other one was yet to be traced. Both the students hail from Delhi.

Sarma also said that the central agencies have been informed accordingly.

STF Additional Superintendent of Police Kalyan Kumar Pathak had told reporters that the student had sent an email, in which he claimed that he was on the way to join ISIS.

A relative of the IIT-Guwahati student detained in Assam for allegedly pledging allegiance to the IS said that the 22-year-old wanted to become an engineer to lift his family out of poverty.

Touseef Ali Farouqui, a resident of Okhla in the national capital, was allegedly on his way to join the terror group when he was nabbed in the Hajo area near Guwahati on March 23.

The accused was arrested the next day under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

According to the relative, who did not wish to be named, Farouqui’s mother and sister live with his uncle in a small house in one of the narrow lanes of Zakir Nagar in southeast Delhi.

“When the police came here on Sunday, we got to know about his alleged activities… we can’t imagine that he could do something like this,” his relative, who did not wish to be named, said.

She asserted that if the allegations against the student turn out to be true, his family members will not support him. “We are cooperating with the police,” she added.

The relative further said that Farouqui, a fourth-year B Tech student of Bioscience department, was a bright student and had “easily” cracked the engineering exam to get into IIT.

However, over the last few years, Farouqui has not been keeping well, she said.

He had limited interaction with his family and has not come to meet them for years, she added.

Farouqui’s mother and uncle work in a factory, while his sister is employed at a boutique, the relative said.

One of their neighbours in Zakir Nagar said, “We saw him a long time ago. He was a quiet and composed individual.”

Assam Police’s Special Task Force (STF) Inspector General Parthasarathi Mahanta had earlier said that after interrogating Farouqui, police found credible evidence of his links with IS and he was arrested.

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.

First Published: Mar 30 2024 | 11:19 PM IST