Revenge Is Coming: ISIS threat message

Bengaluru: Following the arrest of Mehdi Masoor Biswas, the alleged handler of an ISIS twitter account, senior officer, DCP (Crime) Abhishek Goyal received a threat message on twitter from @abouanfal6.

"@goyal_abhei we will not leave our brothers in your hand Revenge is coming wait for our reaction," reads a reply from twitter handle @abouanfal6.

The city Police Commissioner, M N Reddi, has said that the police was putting in its best efforts trying to trace the origin in response to the threat message posted.

“The threat message has been given the importance it deserves. We will deal with such messages in our own way,” Reddi said.

A day after the arrest, Mehdi was produced before a magistrate at his residence in Koramangala around 12.30 am on Sunday. Though the police had sought 15 days police custody, the magistrate gave permission for only five days. Mehdi was later taken to the interrogation centre in Madiwala.

“Preliminary investigation shows that he is a propagandist of ISIS ideology and has been instrumental in influencing minds against our friendly nations against whom ISIS is at war. His virtual or actual relations are under intense scrutiny. Investigation is looking into every possible way of his connect with ISIS virtual and actual world. The investigation is also looking into presence of any of the domestic connect or sleeper cell existing or not. The follower network is being studied,” Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Hemant Nimbalkar said.

The police are now studying Mehdi’s follower network on Twitter. Officials of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) also arrived to question him.

Another officer said, “We are investigating whether he was getting any funds to manage the Twitter account. We are also scrutinising his bank accounts. But he is strongly denying that he recruited anyone to the terror outfit. However, he said that he did not give away his personal details in the Twitter account fearing that it would pose a threat to his life, besides fear that he would be arrested. The police are yet to send the two mobile phones and a laptop seized from him for examination by experts.”

Responding to the threat, Goyal said he is not taking it much seriously.

"Personally I'm not taking the threat much seriously.... taking it in stride and not much alarmed," he said.