After a video showing an Indian youth, Fahad Shaikh, promoting and praising terror outfit Islamic State (ISIS) went viral on social media websites, the anti-terrorist squad (ATS) had it taken off imme
After a video showing an Indian youth, Fahad Shaikh, promoting and praising terror outfit Islamic State (ISIS) went viral on social media websites, the anti-terrorist squad (ATS) had it taken off immediately and began its own investigations, questioning not only Shaikh’s family, but also his relatives and friends.
Sources said the video featuring the Kalyan resident began going viral two days ago. They said they had removed it from most websites playing it. “It was necessary to remove the video from every site as it was going viral and would be harmful for people who still loved Shaikh. It is normal procedure that whenever such an anti-national video goes viral, the ATS team first deletes all data related to it,” they said.
After deleting the video, ATS began interrogations. Sources said more than 25 people had been questioned till now by the ATS team, which also visited Shaikh’s residence in Bainganwadi and other places of Kalyan.
‘Shaikh and three other boys — Areeb Majeed, Saheem Tanki and Amaan Tandel — had left home in May 2014 after being influenced by ISIS propaganda, especially a female ISIS handler. They left Mumbai on a Ziyarat (pilgrimage) visa and got off at Baghdad from where they supposedly joined ISIS that trained them in explosives, arms use, and war tactics. Soon, they were recruited by ISIS and fought alongside other ISIS members in Iraq. A few months later in November, Majeed returned to the country and was arrested and charged by the National Investigation Agency. It was later also revealed that Tanki had died in an operation. After Shaikh left home, his parents vacated their Kalyan house and are currently not in touch with any of their old neighbours. They had no clue about the video and were shown the same by a relative who stumbled upon it. Neighbours recollected happy moments spent with the Shaikhs, however, refused to comment on the video. One of Shaikh’s uncles, Iftikar Khan, said, “We were shocked when we came to know about Shaikh joining ISIS. We don’t know about the video; we heard about it in the media and from ATS officers. The incident had almost faded from our memory but again, this news has shattered us.”
