75 arrested for alleged links with ISIS: Govt

New Delhi: A total of 75 people were arrested from different states for alleged links with dreaded terror group ISIS, the Centre said today.

Minister of State for Home, Hansraj Ahir informed the Rajya Sabha that as per the available information, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and state police have arrested altogether 75 individuals for suspected links to the ISIS terror network.

Of the 75 persons, 21 were arrested from Kerala, 16 from Telangana, 9 from Karnataka, 8 from Maharashtra, 6 from Madhya Pradesh, 4 from Uttarakhand, 3 from Uttar Pradesh, 2 from Rajasthan, 4 from Tamil Nadu and one each from Jammu and Kashmir and West Bengal.

Ahir said a few incidents of unfurling of flags of ISIS by some misguided youths were noticed on different occasions in Jammu and Kashmir in the recent past.

“Police and public order being State subjects, the state government concerned has been directed to take appropriate action against such elements as per relevant provisions of law,” he said in a written reply.

Quoting reports of the security agencies, the minister added that a few educated youths got attracted to the ISIS ideology through social media.