After the duo crossed over to India from Bangladesh at Assam border, the police on Wednesday said that have arrested the India head of ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) and one of his associates.
They were arrested in Assam's Dhubri district, and will be handed over to the anti-terrorism agency National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Assam Police Chief Public Relations Officer Pranabjyoti Goswami, in a statement, said they were apprehended from Dharmasala area following a tip-off.
They were later brought to the Special Task Force (STF) office in Guwahati.
The Assam Police CPRO said that the arrested accused have been identified as ISIS India head Haris Farooqi and his associate Anurag Singh.
"The identity of both of them was ascertained and it is found that accused Haris Farooqi alias Harish Ajmal Farukhi of Chakrata, Dehradun is the head of ISIS in India. His associate Anurag Singh alias Rehan of Panipat got converted to Islam, while his wife is a Bangladeshi national, Goswami said.
The CPRO added that both the accused are “highly indoctrinated” and “motivated” members of ISIS India.
"They had furthered the cause of ISIS in India through conspiracies to carry out recruitment, terror funding and terror acts using IEDs at several places across India," he said.
The CPRO informed that the accused have several pending cases against them at the NIA Delhi, ATS Lucknow, among other places.
"STF, Assam, will hand over the accused to NIA for taking up further legal actions against these fugitives," he said.
On the tip-off, Goswami said that the information was received from STF's sister agencies. The police was told that two top-rung leaders of ISIS India, who were camping in Bangladesh, would cross over to India at the Dhubri "to carry out sabotage activities".
Based on the input, a team was deputed to locate and apprehend them.
The CPRO then said that a manhunt was launched at the international border to nab them.
"At around 4:15 am of March 20, the accused persons were detected at Dharmasala area of Dhubri after they had crossed the international border," he added.
(With agency inputs)
Catch all the Business News , Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.