Bhubaneswar: A 22-year-old unemployed youth from Odisha’s Bhubaneswar has been arrested by the Delhi Police Special Cell in connection with alleged online radicalisation activities linked to social media platforms, officials said Saturday.
According to a joint press statement issued by Suresh Dev Datta Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Police of Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Commissionerate, the accused has been identified as Sheikh Imran alias S.K. Imran, the son of Sheikh Amir and a resident of Ganga Nagar in Bhubaneswar.
The accused Imran was apprehended April 10 from the Unit-6 area with assistance from the Commissionerate Police.
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The arrest comes after a wider operation by the Delhi Police Special Cell, which had earlier detained a group of young individuals in Delhi in connection with “social media posts on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Signal related to radicalisation”.
During the questioning of those suspects, investigators reportedly identified a link leading to Odisha.
Acting on the input, the police detained Sheikh Imran.
The press statement during further questioning said, “It was revealed that Sheikh Imran, an unemployed youth, was acting as an active member of the radical group.”
Authorities also said that through Sheikh Imran’s social media accounts, he had come into contact with a close-knit group on WhatsApp and Signal, where “radical content on religious lines was circulated, which is detrimental to national security”.
Officials also noted that Sheikh Imran was taken into custody after coordinated efforts between the Delhi Police and local authorities. He was subsequently produced before the Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate Court in Bhubaneswar and taken on transit remand by the Delhi Police for further investigation.
The press note emphasised that the investigation began after analysis of the online activity of suspects detained in Delhi, which led to the identification of the Odisha-based connection.
The accused is currently in custody as investigators continue to probe the extent of the alleged network and its digital footprint.
IANS