Pro-Islamic State tweeter did not recruit: Rajnath Singh

Preliminary interrogation of pro-Islamic State (IS) tweeter Mehdi Masroor Biswas has revealed that his role was limited to putting material on social networking sites and he was not involved in recruiting for the terror group, union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said Monday.

In a suo motu statement made in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, Rajnath Singh said during interrogation Biswas denied recruiting any people for the terror group.

"The interrogation of Biswas has indicated that his activities were limited to posting and reposting of pro-IS material on his Twitter account and social media sites. He has denied having recruited any person for IS," he said.

"During interrogation Biswas disclosed that more than 60 percent of his Twitter account followers were non-Muslims from western countries and a majority of his Muslim followers were from the western countries, particularly the UK," the home minister said.

"Biswas started closely following the developments in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan through internet during his college days and has been active in the social networking sites since 2009," he said.

"Over a period of time Biswas started interacting with people in the social networking sites on matters related to 'Jihad'," the minister said.

Biswas was arrested early Saturday following a British news channel Dec 11 unmasking of the 24-year-old executive as a supporter of IS through social media and Twitter handle @ShamiWitness.

A court Sunday sent him to five-day police custody for interrogation.

Rajnath Singh said Biswas has been arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and provisions of the Indian Penal Code.

"Through a Twitter account, he was disseminating information for IS and came to light in electronic media in the United Kingdom," the minister said.

Rajnath Singh said Biswas belongs to a middle class family from Kolkata and did his electrical engineering from Guru Nanak Dev Institute of Technology in 2012. He joined ITC following a campus recruitment drive and is currently employed with the company.