Howrah terror case: Radicalising content found in Ansari’s phone

After the arrest of the Aniruddin Ansari, cops got vital information from his mobile phone. Many jihadi books were found being downloaded on his phone. All those books occupied least 12 GB of the phone’s memory. Those books were on mobile as PDF files and were retrieved from the Telegram app which the accused had deleted after he was arrested.

Ansari, who originally hails from Purulia, lived in Howrah district in a rented house. “The terrorists who took shelter in his residence had links with terror activities in east and the northeast. Interrogation of Aniruddin will throw more light to it,” the Economic Times quoted an official anonymously.

On March 13, the Madhya Pradesh Police arrested four people, from two areas in Bhopal, suspected to be terrorists belonging to the JMB. They were identified as Fazhar Ali, Md Aqueel, Zahooruddin and Fazhar Zainul, all residents of Bangladesh. The militants arrested in Bhopal had visited Amiruddin’s house in twice in the last seven months. In the last one year, a total of nine Bangladeshi militants have come to India and have been given shelter. It is known that Aniruddin Ansari is a member of Al-Qaeda (Al-Qaeda in Islamic Sub-Continental) militant organization. They are members of the Ansarullah Bangla Dal, a militant organization in Bangladesh, and their affiliates.

Detectives found Ansari had links with the militants arrested in Bhopal, and he has been booked under UAPA.