With the arrest of techie Anees Ansari, who was picked up by the Maharashtra ATS on Saturday after he was allegedly found chatting on social media about blowing up an American school in Mumbai, the issue of online indoctrination is once again staring Mumbai police in the face.
Recently, the agency had claimed that four youths from Kalyan were radicalised through jihadi chat groups on the Internet, after which they had flown to Iraq to support Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
What was the techie caught doing?
According to the ATS sources, Ansari had a regular account on Facebook, but had created another account under another name recently.
"When the Syria issue happened, after which the United States forces started taking action against the militants, Ansari had started viewing videos regarding the same on the Internet. The videos that got maximum views were viewed by Ansari. Ansari would also watch videos showing atrocities against Muslims. He got agitated by them and started developing hatred towards Western countries," said an ATS officer, requesting anonymity.
What other videos was he watching?
As per the agency, apart from viewing provocative videos of ISIS chief Abu Bakar Al Baghdadi, Ansari also used to watch videos of other Muslim clerics. "We have recovered few video clips of United Kingdom-based maulana Noman Ali Khan and South Africa-based maulana Ahmed Badak. ISIS literature has also been recovered. He is an ISIS sympathiser," said additional director general of police, ATS, Himanshu Roy.
Was Ansari following in the footsteps of Kalyan youths?
The police are also investigating whether Ansari was following in the footsteps of the four youths from Kalyan whom had gone missing and were later found to have visited Iraq to reportedly support ISIS. "Ansari had applied for a passport a month ago. We suspect he was also a victim of online indoctrination," the officer said.
Profile of a terror suspect
24-year-old Anees Ansari worked in a multi-national company and his job involved designing navigation maps for imported cars. Ansari has studied Information Technology course from a suburban college and draws Rs 19,500 per month as salary. His father is retired, his mother is a housewife and he is the eldest of four siblings.
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