Delhi Police Special Cell, in collaboration with the Madhya Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), has apprehended a 20-year-old aspiring Chartered Accountant (CA) from Bhopal on suspicion of ties to an ISIS-inspired terror module. The arrest underscores the growing threat of online radicalization targeting vulnerable youth. The suspect, hailing from a modest middle-class family—his father an accountant and his mother a homemaker—appeared to lead a typical student's life, focused on CA exam preparations. However, investigators allege that he was gradually pulled into extremist circles through encrypted social media platforms, where ISIS propaganda preyed on his online interactions.

This marks his second encounter with authorities. Sixteen months prior, the Uttar Pradesh ATS detained him for posting a menacing threat against a judge presiding over the Gyanvapi Mosque dispute—the same official who mandated an Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) examination of the contentious Varanasi site. Probe details indicate his involvement in several Lucknow-based WhatsApp groups frequented by ISIS sympathizers.

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While based in Bhopal for studies, the youth purportedly engaged in ongoing communication with radical handlers, imbibing their doctrine and disseminating materials. Law enforcement sources describe a deliberate grooming process by ISIS-affiliated recruiters, capitalizing on his inquisitiveness and periods of solitude amid virtual exchanges. Authorities have confiscated his mobile phone and laptop, with forensic teams now dissecting digital communications and browsing history to unearth additional network members.

This development heightens concerns, as it represents the second such ISIS-linked arrest in Madhya Pradesh in under a month. Previously, the Delhi Police Special Cell nabbed 26-year-old Kamran Qureshi from Biaora in Rajgarh district, a part-time typist and lab computer operator with similar alleged connections.

The case highlights the urgent need for enhanced monitoring of online spaces to counter the insidious spread of terrorist ideologies among the youth. Further interrogations are underway to map the full extent of the module's operations.

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