Kalyan boy grilled by NIA: Did IS militants give Majeed a task in India?

Thane (Maharashtra): A youth from Maharashtra, who joined the terror group Islamic State (IS) in Iraq, Friday returned home to India and was being questioned by intelligence agencies. Arif Majeed, 23, hailing from Kalyan, arrived by a flight via Turkey around 5.15 am Friday. He was immediately whisked away by intelligence officials to an undisclosed location for interrogation. According to a report Zee News, Majeed will be produced before a special NIA court today. However, latest reports suggest that Majid might have been deliberately released by the Sunni militants and has been dispatched to India for a ‘job’ in the country. A report on NDTV quotes sources in the investigating agency grilling Majeed as suspecting something on the same lines. The National Investigative Agency (NIA) on Friday registered an FIR against ISIS and Arif Majeed, who until now was believed to have been killed while fighting for the militant group ISIS in Syria. [caption id=“attachment_1827365” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Arif Majeed. IBN Live.[/caption] According to CNN-IBN the FIR was registered against Majeed and ISIS under UAPA and Section 125 of IPC. Majeed was jointly grilled by NIA and Maharashtra ATS upon his return to Mumbai on Friday. Arif appears “highly radicalised” and was likely to face action, the police had said earlier. Majeed went “missing” in May along with three other Thane youths - Shahim Tanki, Aman Tandel and Fahad Shaikh. They had claimed they were going on a pilgrimage to holy sites in the Arabian Gulf and surrounding countries, but it was only much later, their families and police came to know they had reportedly sneaked into Iraq and joined the IS ranks. Their sudden disappearance and the final destination had created a sensation in Indian political and security circles. Arif’s family was informed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) early Friday that he had returned to India. Investigators will attempt to find from Arif how they entered Iraq, their activities out there, the fate of another 40 Indians reportedly under custody of the ISIS forces and how he (Arif) managed to escape and return home, officials disclosed. Around Aug 26 this year, the Majeed family had received information from Tanki that Arif had been killed in action in the ISIS war, following which they had performed the customary post-death rituals and prayers. Earlier, their families had sought help from the central government for the return of the youths, who they claimed were “misguided”. With inputs from agencies.