Kashmir couple recruited, scouted for IS, claim police

NEWDELHI: A day after a Kashmiri couple was arrested from south Delhi’s Okhla Vihar for alleged links with the Islamic Statekhorasan Province (ISKP) and instigating protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the police said the woman allegedly used to “talent scout” for the outfit while her husband was a “recruiter” since 2018. The police, however, did not specify how many people the couple had radicalised in the last two years and what kind of unlawful activities they indulged in.

“Four mobile phones and a laptop that we recovered from the rented house of the couple — Jahanzaib Sami,36, and his 39-year-old wife Hina Bashir Beigh — were password protected. We have sent the items to The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) to unlock it and retrieve data, which we suspect were deleted by the couple before their arrest,” said a senior special cell officer, who did not want to be identified.

CERT-IN is the nodal agency within the ministry of electronics and information technology to deal with potential cyber security threats like hacking and phishing.

According to the officer, the incriminating data from the electronic gadgets may help them identifying the persons who were in touch with the couple.

Beigh’s interrogation, the officer said, “revealed that she came in contact with Sami sometime in 2015 while both of them were sympathisers of the Islamic State (ISIS) and inspired by the outfit’s ideology”.

“They got married in 2019. The couple had been in touch with senior ISKP members in Afghanistan to exploit the anti-caa agitation. Beigh used to influence like-minded people. Those motivated were introduced to Sami, who recruited them on the behest of Islamic State-khorasan Province,” the officer added.

The police said that the couple created several anonymous accounts on social media platforms to propagate the ideology of the Islamic State.

As many as five such accounts have been identified by the police. Two-three accounts have already been deleted or deactivated.

The two have been booked for sedition and promoting enmity between different communities under sections 124A and 153A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), the police said.

The family of the couple said the two were professionals with no interest in Citizenship Amendment Act or ISIS, and claimed they are being framed.