They don’t figure in the direct messages from Mehdi’s Twitter account

Two of the terror suspects involved in the recent Dhaka carnage followed pro-IS tweeter Mehdi Masroor Biswas’s twitter handle @ShamiWitness.

But this revelation is unlikely to make any impact in the ongoing case against Mehdi, who is awaiting trial and presently lodged in the Bengaluru Central Prison at Parappana Agrahara here, say investigators in the case.

Mehdi, hailing from West Bengal and who was working as a manager with a corporate in the city, was arrested by the city police in December 2014, following a Channel 4 expose.

Central Crime Branch sleuths from Bengaluru police, who have filed a charge sheet against him for cyber terrorism and waging war against a friendly Asian power in June 2015, have built the case mainly on Direct Messages (DM) between Mehdi and various IS fighters.

K.V. Sharath Chandra, Additional Commissioner (Crime), Bengaluru, said they had cross-checked and the names of the two Dhaka terror suspects, Nibras Islam and Rohan Imtiaz, who followed Mehdi on Twitter did not feature in the 14,000-plus direct messages from Mehdi’s twitter account.

“There were some tweets and messages that were deleted, for which we have sought access to from Twitter, which is yet to be provided to us. We should see if these Dhaka suspects figure in them,” he said.

“For instance, the same Dhaka suspects have followed televangelist Zakir Nayak on Twitter. We cannot hold Mr. Nayak responsible for the attacks in a court,” another investigator said. One of the main evidences against him is the set of DMs with a IS fighter who sought help from Mehdi to reach Raqqa from Turkey border, and Mehdi confessed to have helped him.

The charge sheet mentions that Mehdi was in touch with over 40 British IS fighters at the forefront.

No such evidence can be made out against Mehdi with the two Dhaka terror suspects following him on Twitter, sleuths said.

The Twitter handle @ShamiWitness is yet to be taken down. However, it has been inactive and the city police have the username and password to the account.

“The account is not taken down as it is the most crucial evidence in the case,” a senior official said.

Spends time reading books

Meanwhile, Mehdi spends most of his time in jail reading books from the prison library, sources in the prison said. “He is an avid reader and also follows the newspaper regularly,” they added.

“He is lodged in a separate high-security cell alone, unlike other prisoners who are lodged in a barrack. Mehdi is being allowed to take a walk in a small prison area for two hours a day, and his interactions with other prisoners is restricted,” said a senior jailor, who added that his behaviour in the prison has been “normal and obedient”.