A 31 year old man was questioned by the NIA on Saturday regarding objectionable material allegedly posted on his Facebook account, the Hindu reported. The man, identified as Yousuf Aslam, had converted to Islam after marrying his wife. His initial name was Udayakumar.
Asam runs a biryani and mobile phone shop at Chinnamanur in Theni district of Tamil Nadu. Reportedly, the NIA had been monitoring his Facebook account for some time. The account allegedly expressed support for banned outfits and contained literature related to the “sacrifices” of Muslims around the world and the need to fight ‘anti-Muslim’ forces.
The idea of a separate nation called ‘Khalifa’ was also floated. The NIA team took a few pen drives, a laptop, SIM cards and three mobile phones. One source reportedly said that Aslam was picked up as he was the admin of a WhatsApp group.
Another admin identified as one Abdullah from Madurai was questioned on Friday. Two admins are from Kerala and Karnataka. He was let off in the presence of Jamaat members after an assurance that he would cooperate with the authorities in the probe.
According to an India Today report, Abdullah had made posts on Facebook “instigating people on religious grounds to wage war against India and establish Khilafat, thus threatening the sovereignty of India” and was arrested earlier this year. The NIA conducted searches across 22 locations spread over four districts – Thanjavur, Madurai, Theni and Tirunelveli.
