Couple arrested in Delhi wrote articles for ISIS magazine, radicalized youths

Hours after the Special Cell of Delhi Police arrested two suspected members of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan Province from Delhi, the police on Monday (March 9) said that accused Jahanzeb Sami and his wife Hina Bashir Baig used to write articles for ISIS magazine Sawt Al-Hind (Voice of India). 

On Sunday (March 8), the police had claimed that both Sami and Hina were in touch with several senior ISKP operatives and were trying to incite Muslim youth to carry out terror strikes in the national capital. As per the investigation agencies, they were in touch with senior ISIS members from Afghanistan. The police also recovered several incriminating materials from their possession. 

Police said that during interrogation, Sami has revealed that he came in contact with an ISIS operative named Huzeifa in 2018. Sami also told the interrogators that he was in regular touch with Hina through Facebook when she was in Bangalore and he was working in Pune.

Police have recovered some written materials from their home in which Citizenship Amendment Act has been called a black law and it is also said that those who are in support of the legislation are enemies of Muslims.

Sami and Hina also told their interrogators that they came to Delhi from Kashmir in August after the ban on Internet in the Valley. Both Sami and Hina are well-educated and were involved in radicalizing youths for anti-national activities. Hina is web designer while Sami is an MBA.

Meanwhile, the families of the arrested couple have rejected police's claim, saying both are innocent and are being falsely implicated. Talking to Zee Medai, Sami's mother said that his son moved to Dehli due to internet shutdown in Valley and has no links with any organisation. 

“He worked as a project manager with an IT company and internet shutdown forced him to move out. He got married in October and was working in Kashmir till September because of internet shutdown there company shifted to Delhi so they also had to shift now they were suppose to come back as Internet got restored here. He had never protested for Kashmir then why should he protest for Delhi. We want that state government should intervene and give us justice," said Sami's mother.