TIRUPATTUR: After several hours of quizzing by the Intelligence Bureau (IB), an engineering student from Ambur has been arrested for alleged links to the banned terrorist organisation ISIS. Police said he conspired with ISIS to carry out terror attacks and instil fear among non-Muslims.
The third-year student Meer Anaas Ali (22) came under the IB’s radar after allegedly liking and sharing social media posts of ISIS. He lives at Neelikollai in Ambur Town, Tirupattur, and studied at a private college in Melvisharam, Ranipet.
Around 4 am on Saturday, IB officials, with help from local police, picked him up from his house and confiscated his mobile phone and laptop. They took him about 35 km away, to the Anaicut police station in Vellore, and interrogated him for several hours.
During the interrogation, it was found that Anaas had links to ISIS, and was in touch with the organisation on social media platforms such as Instagram and Telegram, police said. Based on the investigation, the Ambur Town police registered an FIR under Sections 121, 122, and 125 of the IPC, and various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 and arrested Anaas. Around midnight on Saturday, he was escorted to the Vellore Central Prison and remanded in judicial custody.
Was in touch on Instagram
The arrested youngster is a third-year student of mechanical engineering at a Ranipet college. He was allegedly in touch with ISIS on Instagram and Telegram