A 30-year-old former Google employee, who was allegedly planning to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ranks in Iraq, was detained by Hyderabad Police.
Software engineer Munawad Salman, who hails from Tamil Nadu, got attracted to the jihadist group through social media networks and had planned to join its forces.
According to police, Salman, who had worked at the Hyderabad office of technology giant Google before quitting his job some seven months ago, was picked up on Tuesday following inputs that he was making efforts to procure a visa to Saudi Arabia from where he allegedly planned to flee to Iraq.
Reacting to queries regarding Salman’s detention, Hyderabad Police Commissioner M Mahender Reddy said, “The police have been keeping a watch on his activities ever since the four Hyderabadi youth were caught while they were allegedly trying to join the ISIS.”
“He reportedly studied posts of the ISIS and their propaganda on the internet and social media platforms for past six months and had planned to join the group's fighters in Iraq,” said Reddy.
“He has been asked to desist from such things, and if he is found indulging in such activities again, a specific case will be booked and he will be arrested,” Reddy said. “After quitting his job at Google, he was planning to leave the country and was trying to get a visa,” he added.
“Yesterday, he was asked to appear before police and taken before the revenue divisional officer where he gave an undertaking for good conduct,” Reddy said.
“He has been let off and is not in our custody,” Reddy added.
Referring to the recent incidents of some Hyderabadi youth and others allegedly trying to join the ISIS after getting attracted to the jihadist group through social networking sites, the commissioner said, “This activity is not limited to Hyderabad alone. It is all over the world. However, we are keeping a tab on these things here.”
When asked if the city police were keeping tabs on social networking sites being used as a propaganda tool by militant organisations, Reddy said, “We are working with national and state agencies.”
“The central and state agencies have been monitoring social networking sites, we have been on the job,” he said.
“Just browsing through these sites (ISIS propaganda websites) is one thing. There are different levels of intensity of activity. Depending on the intensity of the activities one is involved in, police will decide on whether to book a case or not, whether to run a security proceeding under CrPC 108 or to call their parents and counsel...It depends on case to case basis,” Reddy said.
When asked how many youth were in touch with ISIS, he said several people were going through the sites. “There is so much activity, it cannot be quantified,” said Reddy.
