Author: Abhijit Sathe
Publication: Mumbaimirror.com
Date: November 30, 2014
URL:   http://www.mumbaimirror.com/articleshow/45320874.cms?prtpage=1

Interrogators say they are now focusing on zeroing in on people who provoked Arif and his three friends into joining ISIS.

 Kalyan engineer Arif Majeed quit terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and slipped out of the war zone after he was assigned to reconstruction of battle-ravaged houses in Iraq and grew frustrated over lack of combat opportunities.

 Arif, 23, also lost nerve because of the constant pounding the area he was holed up in received from American forces, and a stray bullet injury received in a skirmish only weakened his resolve further. He crossed over to the Turkish territory and sought border security forces' help to get in touch with the Indian consulate.

 Arif, who was produced before a National Investigation Agency (NIA) special court in Mumbai on Saturday and remanded in NIA custody till December 8, has told his interrogators that his and his three friends' indoctrination took place mostly on the internet, though they were introduced to ISIS by some local community leaders.

 NIA sources told this paper on Saturday that one of the main focus of Arif's questioning now is to zero down on the people who provoked him and his three friends -- Shaheed Tanki, Fahad Sheikh and Aman Tandel - into joining the ISIS.

 Arif, who is being questioned by the NIA, the Maharashtra ATS, and the Intelligence Bureau at an undisclosed location, has revealed that the four of them left Mumbai after they received a phone number on their facebook account. They were told to call this number once they reached Iraq.

 The four reached Baghdad as part of a religious excursion sometime in May and were given a local address to stay and asked to wait for instructions. A few days later, a caller asked them to reach Mosul. Here again, they were directed to a safe house and asked to wait. This turned out to be a longer wait than Baghdad before the same caller directed them to proceed to the Iraq-Syria border. In a mosque on the border, Arif has told his interrogators, the ISIS made its first direct contact with them.

 All four were put through an elaborate background check, this included lengthy questioning and a thorough sweep of their facebook accounts.

 Once the ISIS was satisfied with their antecedents, they were put through a 25-day course in the teachings of Quran, followed by ten-day training in weapons and handling of explosives. At the conclusion of the course, all four were deployed in different areas of the war zone. This was the last Arif saw of his three friends. He, however, has told interrogators that Shaheed, Fahad, and Aman too were assigned non-combat responsibilities.

 NIA sources said Arif has denied reports of him marrying a Palestinian girl and clarified that he or his associates also had no hand in a facebook post declaring him a martyr.

 At the Iraq-Turkey border after he escaped, Arif told the Turkish forces that he was an Indian national in distress and wished to return home. The Turkish forces allowed Arif entry into the country, but detained him and tipped off the Indian mission in Turkish capital Ankara.

 It was only after his identity was verified that the mission requested Turkish forces to arrange his transport to Ankara. Intelligence agencies, including the Maharashtra ATS, were in the loop from the time the Turkish forces contacted the Indian mission, sources said.