Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh): Sleuths from the National Investigation Agency have procured vital information about accused Basit Kalam Siddiqui, who was arrested from the Khajuri area of Varanasi, on charges of recruiting Muslim youths for the organisation 'Voice of Hind', a terror module affiliated to ISIS. Basit was preparing for an engineering entrance exam online from a Kota-based institute in Rajasthan. In the meantime, during the Lockdown he was attracted towards the ISIS ideology.
Basit was arrested by the NIA team from his Varanasi house located in the Khajuri area late on Tuesday night. His father and brother were also taken into custody by the NIA team, but later on, they were released after questioning. The preliminary investigation conducted by the NIA revealed that the arrested youth was preparing for the engineering entrance exam from a Kota-based coaching institute in Rajasthan through online while staying at his home in Varanasi.
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It is learnt from official sources that the accused Basit's father Abdul Kalam Siddiqui runs a hatchery business in the Chandauli district of Uttar Pradesh. Abdul Kalam Siddiqui is capable to provide good education to Basit so that his son will become an engineer one day. Basit, who was preparing for the engineering entrance exam, was attracted towards the ideology of ISIS during the lockdown in 2020 and later decided to join the organisation after undergoing indoctrination for three months.