Ehtisham Bilal, 19, a student of the Greater Noida-based Sharda University who went missing on October 28 and later purportedly joined the Islamic State Jammu and Kashmir (ISJK), returned home on Sunday.
A top police official told The Hindu that Bilal’s return was “possible due to the concerted efforts of the family and the police and he may not face any case once he joins the mainstream.”
“Yes, he (Ehtisham) returned home. However, the police detained him immediately and shifted him to the local police station. Hope he will be released soon,” said Ehtisham’s father Bilal Ahmad Sofi, a resident of Srinagar’s Khanyar area.
The police said he has been “detained for a medical check-up since he was not keeping well”.
Mr. Sofi had earlier claimed his son went missing from a Delhi Metro station on October 28 and since then failed to contact them. However, the student lied to his parents to return to Kashmir to join the IS, said the police. He was in touch with a youth from Shopian, with inclination towards militancy.
“Ehtisham had booked tickets in Delhi on October 26. He took a flight of Go-Air flight, G8-223, from Delhi to Srinagar on October 28. His movement was traced in south Kashmir’s Awantipora-Pulwama axis, also the hub of ISJK headed by Zakir Musa,” police sources said.
