A day after National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested one Arif Majeed for his alleged links with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a special court on Saturday remanded the youth in the agency’s custody till December 8 to facilitate his custodial interrogation.
Arif (23) — who with three other ISIS-linked youngsters from Kalyan have been booked under sections of Unlawful Assembly Prevention Act (UAPA) and section 125 of IPC which deals with waging war against any Asiatic country which has friendly ties with India — was produced before NIA judge PR Deshmukh earlier in the day.
The Judge remanded him in NIA’s custody till December 8 after allowing the investigating agency’s prayer that it wanted to “unravel” the conspiracy behind this “recruitment” by the ISIS and the role played by him in the ‘war’ (for an Islamic State).The NIA has shown three other youngsters Fahad Tanvir Sheikh, Aman Naim Tandel and Shahim Farooqi Tanki, with whom Arif had gone to Iraq in May this year and reportedly joined the ISIS, have been shown as the “wanted” accused in the case.
While seeking Arif’s custody, the public prosecutor the court that the NIA also wanted to investigate if he had been indoctrinated into jihad before being recruited by ISIS and the nature of training he had undergone before joining the terror outfit.Arif — who was brought to Mumbai from Turkey to where he had escaped from Iraq — was detained by the NIA for custodial interrogation soon after his arrival in the city in the early hours of Friday. He was later on Friday night placed under formal arrest.
Responding to queries by the judge in the NIA court, Arif identified himself and confirmed that he had no complaints to make against the central investigating agency. Arif, a third year civil engineering student, and three others — Fahad, Tandel and Tanki - all young men in their twenties – had disappeared from Kalyan in May this year. later, news reports emerged indicating that all four of them had joined ISIS.The families of four youngsters had lodged complaints about their disappearance on May 25, 26 and 27.
