The investigation into the case of four Muslim youth who are believed to have travelled to Iraq to join the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) in May has once again gathered momentum.
After one of the boys was reported killed last week, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has questioned six people including a maulana (priest) who was also scheduled to travel with the young men but backed out at the last minute.
A senior police officer told The Hindu that while the maulana has not yet been given a clean chit, he may not have played a role in radicalising the youth.
“The boys did meet him regularly and discussed religion but it does not look like he radicalised them. He provided logistical support and put them in touch with a travel agency which organised tours to Gulf countries,” he said.
The police say the youngsters were radicalised online. “We suspect that they were indoctrinated online but there could be a local contact involved. We are yet to trace the person,” said the police officer on condition of anonymity.
Another senior officer said the youngsters might have funded their own travel. They had paid Rs. 50,000 in cash to the south Mumbai based travel agency for the tickets.
“They all come from well-to-do families and, therefore, to arrange Rs. 50,000 would not have been a difficult task. They had not asked their family members for money; we think they may have used their savings,” he explained.
Meanwhile the police are yet to get the IP address of the origin of the post hailing Aarif, one of the missing youth now reportedly dead, as a martyr and claiming that he married a Palestine woman. The post surfaced on Wednesday, a day after the news of his death was reported. The police suspect the photograph used in the post showing Arif wielding an AK-47 was morphed.
The four young men identified as Aarif Majid, Fahad Shaikh, Aman Tandel and Saheem Tanki hail from Kalyan district in Thane on the outskirts of Mumbai.
