Mumbai youth suspected to have joined ISIS returns home, is being questioned
22-year-old left home along with three other young Muslim men in May
Mumbai: Six months after 22-year old Arif Majeed left his home in Kalyan near Mumbai, allegedly to fight with the Islamic State, has returned home from Syria and is being questioned by officials.
Majeed, an engineering student was one of the four persons who disappeared from Kalyan in May. He returned on Friday morning.
Mumbai police said that Majeed is being interrogated by members of the country's top counter-terrorism arm, the National Investigating Agency (NIA).
No case has been registered against him so far.
The four missing youths have been identified as Aman Naik Tandel, Sahim Farooqui Tanki and Fahad Tanvir Sheikh, including Majeed. The men reportedly flew to Baghdad with a group of pilgrims on May 23. Majeed last contacted his family was on May 25.
His family friend Iftekhar Khan said, "Arif's father Ejaz received a phone call from security agencies this morning saying his son is in Mumbai."
Maharashtra ATS, which had earlier questioned the family members of the youths, is also in touch with the NIA over the return of Arif to Mumbai, sources said.
He was believed to have died as his family had received a call in the month of August confirming his death.
Accordingly the next day, Arif's family performed 'Janaza-e-gayabana' (prayers for the departed soul in absence of the body) in Kalyan.
In a long farewell note for his family, Majeed, son of a Unani medicine practitioner, had expressed anguish over various issues like "sinning, smoking, taking interest, watching TV, illegal sexual intercourse, intermingling of sexes, not praying or growing beards, lewdness, obscenity, disbelief, living luxurious lives" etc.
Arif in his letter had reportedly warned his shocked family that "these things will lead to you burning in hellfire". He added that he would meet his (unidentified) friend for "our greatest journey", which would be "a blessed journey for me because I don't want to live in this sinful country".
The volatile situation in Iraq is giving Indian security and intelligence officials sleepless nights because of the danger of a jihadi spill over to India as the "contagion" has the potential to spread through the Islamist arc from the middle east to China through Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.