Mehdi’s 60% followers on Twitter non-Muslims: Govt
16 Dec 2014 11:42 PM GMT
Making a suo motu statement in Lok Sabha, he said 24-year-old Mehdi was arrested on December 13 and during interrogation, he indicated that his activities were limited to posting and reposting of pro-ISIS material on his twitter account and social media sites and he has denied having recruited any person for ISIS.
“During interrogation, Mehdi disclosed that more than 60 pc of his twitter account followers were non-Muslims from the western countries and a majority of his Muslim followers were from the
western countries, particularly the UK. Mehdi 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. Over a period of time, Mehdi started interacting with people in social media sites. He has denied having recruited any person for ISIS,” he said.
Singh said Mehdi had come to prominence in the electronic media in the UK on his role in circulating ISIS material through the tweeter account.
An investigation by Britain’s Channel 4 News had stated that the @ShamiWitness account, which reportedly had a massive 17,700 followers, was being run by an executive based in Bangalore.
The report also claimed that the executive was ready to join the Islamic State himself if his family had not been dependent on him.
Mehdi belongs to a family from Kolkata and has done his electrical engineering from Guru Nanak Dev Institute of Technology in 2012. He joined ITC following a campus recruitment drive.
Cop seeks details from Twitter on pro IS account handler
Intensifying its investigation into the alleged handler of pro-Islamic State(IS) Twitter account Mehdi Masroor Biswas, city police has asked for more details regarding ShamiWitness account from the micro blogging site, which are crucial to the probe. “Twitter Inc has started responding to our queries. I have sought more details regarding ShamiWitness which are crucial to investigation,” DCP Crime (Bengaluru) Abhishek Goyal said.
Police has said the investigators are looking into “every possible” connection of Biswas with the ISIS’ “virtual and actual world”. According to police, preliminary investigation showed Biswas was a propagandist of ISIS ideology and “has been instrumental in influencing minds against our friendly nations against whom ISIS is at war. Twenty four-year-old Biswas, who was arrested here on Saturday, is under police custody for five days.
He was arrested under Section 125 of IPC (waging war against the Government of any Asiatic power in alliance or at peace with the Government of India or attempts to wage such war or abetting waging of such war), Sec 18 and 39 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Section 66 of Information Technology Act. Bengaluru police had launched a manhunt for Biswas after Britain’s Channel 4 News had aired the report on the presence of ISIS Twitter Ideologue @ShamiWitness here and arrested him from a rented one-room apartment on Saturday.
“During interrogation, Mehdi disclosed that more than 60 pc of his twitter account followers were non-Muslims from the western countries and a majority of his Muslim followers were from the
western countries, particularly the UK. Mehdi 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. Over a period of time, Mehdi started interacting with people in social media sites. He has denied having recruited any person for ISIS,” he said.
Singh said Mehdi had come to prominence in the electronic media in the UK on his role in circulating ISIS material through the tweeter account.
An investigation by Britain’s Channel 4 News had stated that the @ShamiWitness account, which reportedly had a massive 17,700 followers, was being run by an executive based in Bangalore.
The report also claimed that the executive was ready to join the Islamic State himself if his family had not been dependent on him.
Mehdi belongs to a family from Kolkata and has done his electrical engineering from Guru Nanak Dev Institute of Technology in 2012. He joined ITC following a campus recruitment drive.
Cop seeks details from Twitter on pro IS account handler
Intensifying its investigation into the alleged handler of pro-Islamic State(IS) Twitter account Mehdi Masroor Biswas, city police has asked for more details regarding ShamiWitness account from the micro blogging site, which are crucial to the probe. “Twitter Inc has started responding to our queries. I have sought more details regarding ShamiWitness which are crucial to investigation,” DCP Crime (Bengaluru) Abhishek Goyal said.
Police has said the investigators are looking into “every possible” connection of Biswas with the ISIS’ “virtual and actual world”. According to police, preliminary investigation showed Biswas was a propagandist of ISIS ideology and “has been instrumental in influencing minds against our friendly nations against whom ISIS is at war. Twenty four-year-old Biswas, who was arrested here on Saturday, is under police custody for five days.
He was arrested under Section 125 of IPC (waging war against the Government of any Asiatic power in alliance or at peace with the Government of India or attempts to wage such war or abetting waging of such war), Sec 18 and 39 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Section 66 of Information Technology Act. Bengaluru police had launched a manhunt for Biswas after Britain’s Channel 4 News had aired the report on the presence of ISIS Twitter Ideologue @ShamiWitness here and arrested him from a rented one-room apartment on Saturday.
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