Karnataka saw 23 'terrorists' being held in two years

Karnataka Home Minister K J George on Tuesday informed the state assembly that 23 suspected terrorists have been arrested in the state during the last two years in different terror related cases. In a written reply to a question by Basavaraja S Bommai (BJP), he said 18 of them had been chargesheeted and investigation was going on against five others.

Sharing the breakup, George said 14 suspected terrorists were arrested in 2013 which includes one each with links to HuJI and LeT, and twelve persons linked to Al Ummah. In 2014, five persons were arrested, that includes three persons with links to Al Ummah organisation, and one each linked Indian Mujahideen and ISIS. This year itself, till now four persons had been arrested with links to Indian Mujahideen, the reply said.

One arrest with links to terror outfit ISIS made during 2014 refers to the arrest of alleged pro-Islamic State twitter account handler Mehdi Masroor Biswas. Biswas was arrested on December 13 under IPC section 125 (waging war against the Government of any Asiatic power which is in alliance with the Government of India), sections 18 and 39 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Section 66 of the Information Technology Act.

George also said that till now a total number of 29 cases are pending before the court.