India is an enemy nation and it is the duty of every Muslim to spread the Islamic State (IS) ideology across the world. This is the world view of Salman Mohiuddin, the 32-year-old ISIS sympathizer from the city.
Cyberabad police and intelligence sleuths gathered this from his confession during the time the accused had been in police custody which ended on Friday. The US trained engineer from Bazarghat in Habeebnagar was caught by the police when he was about to board a Dubai bound flight at RGI Airport on January 16. After the arrest, Cyberabad police alleged that Salman was going to Dubai to join the terrorist organization ISIS. Subsequently, a local court granted police a 10-day custody of Salman on January 21 and, after the completion of interrogation, police produced him in the court on Friday morning. The accused was sent to judicial remand.
During the custodial interrogation, Salman reportedly told the investigators that he was going to Dubai to join ISIS. Salman had a tourist visa and he told the interrogators that from Dubai, he was planning to go to Turkey and from there to Syria to join the terror group. "Salman told us that he had no intention of returning to India and that ISIS operatives and even his friend Nicky, who stays in Dubai, had assured him that he would be sent to Syria from Dubai with the help of ISIS activists without any problem," said a Shamshabad police official who grilled Salman. The interrogators were startled when Salman told them that he considered all non Islamic countries, including India, as enemy nations. "Salman told us that he even considers his own family as un-Islamic as some of them do not adhere to the religious rules like wearing hijab," said an interrogator from the intelligence department.
Salman, in addition to Nicky Joseph alias Ayesha, he had been in contact with alleged ISIS operatives Abu Mohammed of Turkey and Abu Al Barra Al Sami of Syria through social networking sites. However, he never met any of them personally, the accused reportedly confessed. According to Salman, Nicky Joseph's husband Aforaly Paul is a cardiologist working in Dubai and that he met Nicky alias Ayesha through Facebook during his stay in Houston to purse MS a few years ago. It was Nicky who hooked him to the ISIS ideology. Indian intelligence agencies have shared the information about Nicky with their British counterparts.
Salman told the interrogators that he had strongly believed that ISIS' philosophy would erase the problems faced by humanity and especially Muslim population. Salman said that he was distressed by the killing of innocents by the US government forces in Iraq and felt that only ISIS could put an end to such atrocities committed against Muslims.
Among the 2000 plus members in the Facebook group 'Daula News Room' operated by Salman, intelligence sleuths have identified eight persons to be very active participants and placed them under surveillance. The suspects are from various parts of the country including Delhi, Bangalore, Jammu & Kashmir as well as Dubai.
Surprisingly, after all the interrogation and investigation, intelligence sleuths are not yet sure about the genuineness of Nicky Joseph's identity. "We are checking with the British intelligence agencies about Nicky Joseph and nothing has been confirmed yet," said an intelligence official.
