Ex-Google Employee in Hyderabad ’Influenced’ by Islamic State, Suspect Police

Mangalore Today News Network

Hyderabad, Oct 29, 2014:   A former Google employee in Hyderabad has been kept under surveillance by the police who suspect he was trying to travel to Saudi Arabia and eventually join the militant group Islamic State.

The 30-year-old man reportedly quit Google some month ago and had a visa to go to Saudi Arabia for work. He has been questioned over his conversations on social media.

The police allege that they found the conversations "suspect" and he may have been influenced by online propaganda.

The software professional has not been arrested but the police say he has been "bound over" as part of security proceedings in connection with the "dissemination of seditious material." This means he has to report to the police regularly and can’t leave the city.

Islamic State, the hardline Sunni Muslim group, has gained control of large parts of Iraq and Syria.

Security and intelligence officials have been concerned about educated young people getting drawn into Islamic State propaganda on social media chat-rooms.

Last month, four students who dropped out of engineering colleges were caught in Kolkata and brought back to Hyderabad; they were reportedly trying to cross over to Dhaka and then travel to Iraq to allegedly join the Islamic State.

The police did not arrest them but let them off after counseling and a warning. The students allegedly gave information on 11 others who had been influenced on social media.

Two men from Maharashtra were arrested last week by the Hyderabad police after their conversations on social media were monitored and found "objectionable".

Top army commanders and Intelligence officers have warned that India’s security agencies must take seriously the threat of Islamic State being able to recruit online in India.

But sources say tracking such activities on social media is also easier; investigators, for example, can enter chat-rooms anonymously and get information.

 

Courtesy: NDTV