Home Cities Delhi Couple held for IS-CAA protest link: Delhi Police

Couple held for IS-CAA protest link: Delhi Police

A senior police officer said they had been tracking the module for long and the person the couple were allegedly in touch with “for three years”.

The couple was arrested from Delhi’s Jamia Nagar for allegedly instigating anti-CAA protests. (Source: ANI)

The Delhi Police Special Cell Sunday arrested a couple from Kashmir with alleged Islamic State links, claiming that they were instigating protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. An FIR has been registered against the two, residents of Southeast Delhi’s Jamia Nagar, under sections of sedition and criminal conspiracy and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

DCP (Special Cell) Pramod Singh Kushwah said Jahanzaib Sami (36) and wife Hina Bashir Beg (39), who belong to Srinagar’s Shivpora, “have links with the Khorasan module of IS (ISKP)”. Police also accused Sami, who works with a private firm, of helping publish the February edition of IS magazine Sawt al Hind (Voice of India), adding “further evidence is being gathered”.

“They were propagating the banned terrorist outfit’s ideology of hatred against non-Muslims… They were also inciting Muslims to take up a violent struggle against the State, and against the CAA,” Kushwah said.

A senior police officer said they had been tracking the module for long and the person the couple were allegedly in touch with “for three years”. “We started tracking Sami and Beg recently and they were found to be distributing literature, especially online, which instigated anti-CAA crowds,” the officer said.

Most people in the Jamia Nagar neighbourhood where the couple live, including their landlord, refused to talk. Some claimed they came to know of Sami and Beg only when police came and TV channels flashed the news of their arrest.

A neighbour, Rashid, said, “They kept to themselves. We saw them come and go but they never stopped to talk. It was when police came that most people realised the couple had rented a house here.”

Sami also went by names such as Dawood Ibrahim, Xaib, Abu Muhammed Al Hind and Abu Abdullah. While Sami had experience in web designing, Beg had an MBA.

Kushwah said they had seized four mobile phones, one laptop, one external hard-disc and other incriminating material from the second-floor rented house the couple had been living in since August 25 last year. The two were produced before a duty magistrate on Sunday and remanded in police custody till March 17.

The DCP said, “During interrogation, it was found that the couple had created several anonymous IDs on social media platforms such as Telegram, Facebook, Threema, Surespot, Instagram and Twitter.”

An officer, requesting anonymity, said, “The couple were in touch with senior ISKP members in Afghanistan, discussing the ongoing protests in the country… They usually chatted with people on Telegram after first making contact on other social media platforms.”

📣 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines

For all the latest Delhi News, download Indian Express App.