Bengaluru Police seeks more details from Twitter on pro-IS account handler Mehdi Masroor

Bengaluru, Dec 15: 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 Sec 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 Sec 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. Meanwhile city's Additional Commissioner of Police (Law & Order) Alok Kumar has stressed on the urgent need to stop radicalisation of young minds.

"Young minds have the propensity to flirt with ideologies advocating violence. Urgent need to stop radicalization," Kumar tweeted with the picture displaying an Islamic flag with Arabic script on the window of the Lindt Chocolate Cafe in Sydney where an armed man has taken undisclosed number of people hostage. "Wider social engagement, monitoring n counselling of such youths is the need of the hour," he further tweeted.

According to Police, he used to "ferociously" tweet by aggregating information and closely watching developments of the Levant region, consisting of Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and part of Southern Turkey, which became a source of incitement and information for new ISIS recruits."

PTI