One of the Indian men who featured in the latest propaganda video circulated by the Islamic State (IS) last week was provided shelter in Dubai by a key Indian Mujahideen operative who was deported on May 20, a senior government official said.
Officials said Bada Sajid, a resident of Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh and formerly an active member of IM, had fled to Dubai along with other members of the terror group after a crackdown in 2008.
Fled Batla HouseSajid is one of the two IM terror suspects who fled from Batla House in Jamia Nagar area of Delhi when Special Cell sleuths raided the flat in September 2008.
The deported IM member Abdul Wahid Siddibapa (35), a resident of Bhatkal in Karnataka was living in Dubai then and, according to officials, he provided a safe hideout to Sajid in 2008.
From Dubai, Sajid travelled to Pakistan. In 2011, other absconding members of IM — Sultan Armar, his brother Shafi Armar and Dr. Shahnawaz — launched another terror outfit — Ansar ul Tawhid (AuT), which later pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.
According to officials, Saijid was also part of AuT, which explains his presence in the new propaganda video of the Islamic State.
The 22 minute, Arabic-subtitled video, “The Land of Hind Between Pain and Hope,” was distributed on web-based applications like Telegram and micro-blogging site Twitter on May 19. The National Investigation Agency officials said they were getting the video examined by forensic experts.
Siddibapa, who is at present in NIA’s custody, has told officials that he provided a safe hideout to many IM members who had fled India in the year 2008.
Officials also said Siddibapa was in contact with another IM leader, Yasin Bhatkal and the two also met in Dubai in 2006. Bhatkal was arrested in 2014 near the Nepal border.
“We will question both Yasin and Siddibapa together to get more information about the terror outfit,” said the official.
Siddibapa was first detained in 2014 by the UAE authorities but was released later. He continued to be under the watch of the authorities and was deported on May 20. He is a close relative of Riyaz Bhatkal, the founder of IM and was providing tactical, material and financial support to members of IM in planning, preparing and organising terrorist activities.
