NIA takes custody of suspected ISIS operative, held from Kullu in Dec

The NIA on Thursday took into its custody a suspected ISIS operative, hailing from Bengaluru, who was arrested from Kullu in Himachal Pradesh last December to unravel the conspiracy and his motive of staying in the northern state.

Abid Khan, 23, was produced before a court in Shimla where the NIA got his 14 days remand for custodial interrogation, officials said in New Delhi.

He is being brought in New Delhi.

The case became important in the light of investigations into the operations of Pakistani-American national David Headley, conspirator of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, which pointed out that he wanted to target Israeli backpackers who frequented a village between Kullu and Manali.

The probe was handed over to the NIA to understand the ramifications of the case as four other accused of Khan were arrested by the agency last November.

He had ostensibly converted to Christianity in 2016.

His name cropped up during interrogation of four of his associates who were arrested from Karnataka, the officials said, adding he knew at least six languages and was allegedly planning to go to Israel to learn Hebrew.

He had been living in a church and had undertaken a journey to Sri Lanka, they said.

The accused had claimed he was planning to escape to Indonesia where his could meet his girlfriend who had promised to take him to Syria for fighting along with ISIS.

The plan failed to because of financial crisis, they added.