NIA looking for Afghan national in ISIS case of Mumbai youths

An Afghan businessman is believed to be allegedly indoctrinating youth from Maharashtra to join dreaded ISIS, claims National Investigation Agency (NIA) which has sent its first judicial requests in the case to Afghanistan seeking details of the person.

The Afghan national, whose name has been withheld, was running business of dry fruits in India and allegedly approached the four youths from Kalyan area neighbouring Mumbai and brainwashed them to join ranks of ISIS terror group, official sources said.

The man had mysteriously disappeared after NIA arrested Areeb Majeed when he was deported from Turkey to India last November.

The port of exit of the Afghan national was found out to be from Delhi in December last year, the sources said.

They said Letters Rogatory, sent to Afghanistan, has been cleared by the Home Ministry and will be issued by the competent court this week.

The NIA request to the Afghan government includes verification of his address, his complete bank account details, associates in that country and the Gulf and call data records, they said.

Majeed was arrested by NIA upon his return from Iraq and booked under sections 16, 18 and 20 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and Section 125 of the Indian Penal Code.

The three UAPA sections stand for commission or conspiring to commit a terrorist act and for being a member of a terrorist organisation, while Section 125 of the IPC relates to waging war against a nation which is in alliance with the government.

Majeed landed in Mumbai on November 28 after spending nearly six months in Iraq, following which he was immediately detained by the security agencies and later arrested.

Last May, four youths from Kalyan, including Majeed, had left the country to visit holy places in West Asia but disappeared thereafter. They were suspected to have joined ISIS. According to police, the four engineering students had flown to Baghdad on May 23 as part of a group of 22 pilgrims to visit religious shrines in Iraq.

The US has already given preliminary evidence of the Internet Protocol address used by Majeed before allegedly joining the outfit and the mails shot off by him.