Nabbed in Assam, ISIS India head has Aligarh links: ATS officials

They said the name of Farooqi, a resident of Uttarakhand’s Dehradun, had surfaced in the investigation after the arrest of eight members of the Aligarh module of ISIS since Nov 2023

LUCKNOW ISIS India head, Haris Ajmal Farooqi, who was arrested along with an associate near the International Border in Assam’s Dhubri district after crossing over from Bangladesh on Wednesday, had links with Aligarh, having direct contact with the module of the terror organization in this city, said UP ATS officials here on Thursday.

Officials said Farooqi was also a member of the SAMU’s instant messaging group and used to give directions to other members. (Pic for representation)

They said the name of Farooqi, a resident of Uttarakhand’s Dehradun, surfaced in the ATS investigation after the arrest of eight members of the Aligarh module of ISIS since November 2023. His name also came to fore after the arrest of Shahnawaz and Rizwan, who were associated with a student organization - Students of Aligarh Muslim University (SAMU).

Officials said Farooqi was also a member of the SAMU’s instant messaging group and used to give directions to other members. The ATS team will soon visit Assam to serve B warrant against him in the case registered against him at Lucknow ATS police station. The ATS will try to procure his custody remand to further interrogate him about the Aligarh module and other members active in UP and other parts of the country, they added.

Earlier, the Assam police had informed media persons that Farooqi was arrested along with another top rung leader of ISIS in India, Anurag Singh alias Rehan. They said Singh was a resident of Haryana’s Panipat and had embraced Islam while his wife was a Bangladeshi national. They described both individuals as highly motivated leaders/members of ISIS in India, involved in various activities including recruitment, terror funding, and planning terror acts using improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

“They had furthered the cause of ISIS in India through conspiracies to carry out recruitment, terror funding and terror acts using IEDs at several places across India,” the official said.

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