The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad has arrested a 19-year-old second-year Bachelor of Dental Surgery student for alleged links with an online module of the banned terrorist organisation ISIS. The accused, identified as Haarish Ali, a resident of Saharanpur district, was arrested in Moradabad on Sunday during an ongoing investigation into ISIS-linked online networks operating across India.
A case has been registered at the ATS police station in Lucknow under relevant sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
What the ATS Said
According to ATS officials, intelligence inputs had indicated that certain individuals in Uttar Pradesh and other parts of the country were creating online groups to propagate ISIS ideology, recruit members and work towards establishing a Sharia-based caliphate system in India and across the world.
Investigation revealed that Haarish Ali had allegedly been in contact with ISIS handlers and sympathisers through social media platforms, including Instagram and encrypted applications such as Session and Discord, police said.
He allegedly created multiple groups using pseudonyms and virtual private networks to avoid detection, using these platforms to circulate propaganda material, extremist literature and operational instructions related to ISIS activities.
ATS officials said the accused also ran a separate group called Al Ittihad Media Foundation, which he had set up to advance ISIS’s terror agenda in India on a larger scale. He maintained contacts with other ISIS handlers within India as well as in Pakistan and abroad. The ATS said his stated goal was to bring about Sharia law under a caliphate system by overthrowing the democratically elected government in the country, in coordination with his ISIS module leaders and associates.
