NIA arrests Bengaluru-based ophthalmologist for allegedly furthering ISIS cause

Mukesh Ranjan

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Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 18

The anti-terror probe agency, National Investigation Agency, on Tuesday said it had arrested accused Abdur Rahman, who works as an ophthalmologist at MS Ramaiah Medical College, Bangalore, in connection with the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) case.

According to the NIA, the case was initially registered by the Delhi Police Special Cell in March this year after the arrest of a Kashmiri couple, Jahanzaib Sami Wani and his wife Hina Bashir Beigh, from Okhla Vihar in Jamia Nagar, Delhi.

The couple was allegedly found to be associated with the ISKP, which is a banned organisation under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), as it is an extension of the ISIS. They were found to be involved in subversive and anti-national activities and were also found to be in touch with Abdullah Basith, who was already lodged in Tihar jail in another NIA case.

The NIA officials said further investigations revealed that two more accused — Sadiya Anwar Sheikh and Nabeel Siddick Khatri — both residents of Pune, were part of the conspiracy to further the activities of the ISIS/ISKP in India and carry out subversive activities in the garb of anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests.

“During interrogation, arrested accused Abdur Rahman confessed that he was conspiring with accused Jahanzaib Sami and other Syria-based ISIS operatives on secure messaging platforms to further ISIS activities. He was in the process of developing a medical application for helping the injured ISIS cadres in the conflict-zones and a weaponry-related application for the benefit of ISIS fighters,” a senior NIA official said.

The official added that Rahman also confessed that he had visited an ISIS medical camp in Syria in early 2014 for treatment of the ISIS terrorists and stayed with the Islamic State operatives for 10 days before returning to India.

After arresting him, the NIA carried out searches at three premises belonging to him in Bangalore with the assistance of Karnataka police and seized digital devices, mobile phone and a laptop containing incriminating material.