NIA forced me to confess, says alleged recruit from Kalyan
MUMBAI: Alleged ISIS recruit Areeb Majeed, who returned to India in November 2014, has claimed in a bail application that the National Investigating Agency (NIA) hacked his social media accounts and forced him to confess that he was associated with the terrorist group.
Majeed on Saturday moved a bail plea through his advocate Farhana Shah, which is likely to come up for hearing on Thursday. Majeed, who has been in jail ever since his return from Syria, alleged in his 300-page bail plea that the NIA falsely implicated him and hacked his social media accounts with the help of professional hacker called Parth.
The NIA’s charge sheet includes screenshots of Majeed’s alleged Twitter account – @abualiallhini – which apparently show that he searched for two accounts linked to ISIS. Majeed denied the allegation, claiming the account was not his and that the police manufactured and planted this ‘evidence’. He added that according to the screenshots, the account was at one point being operated from the Netherlands, a country he said he has never visited. He also said that the account was updated on December 7, 2014, after he was arrested.
According to investigators, Majeed and other three other young men from Kalyan left to join ISIS in May 2014 on the pretext of going on a pilgrimage. The NIA claims Majeed and others were radicalised online.
After joining ISIS, the NIA said, Majeed made several attempts to return to India. On November 24, he approached the Indian Embassy in Turkey, claiming he had lost his passport he needed to return to India, the agency said.
Denying the allegations, Majeed said that he had returned to India on an emergency certificate and that he had not participated in any activities related to ISIS.
He alleged that the police illegally detained him for 24 hours, physically and mentally tortured him and forced him to confess that he was a member of ISIS.