Two brothers with suspected ISIS links, who were arrested for allegedly hatching plans to conduct "lone-wolf" attacks in Gujarat, were today sent to 12-day police custody by a magistrate court here
The ATS had sought 14-day custody of the duo but Judicial Magistrate First Class R A Singh granted only 12 days.
Waseem Ramodiya and his brother Naeem were yesterday arrested by the Gujarat ATS team.
More From This Section
The ATS wanted to know from the duo whether the two had in the past, made any attempt to carry out blasts or other anti-national activities.
It also wanted to find out if ISIS sleeper cells are active in Gujarat, ATS ACP Ramesh Faldu told the court listing reasons for seeking their police custody.
Wasim and Naeem, who have MCA and BCA degrees respectively, were allegedly in contact with ISIS handlers and were planning to target religious places like Chotila.
Based on specific information about their alleged activities "inspired by the Jihadi ideology of ISIS", ATS officials had nabbed Wasim from Rajkot and his younger brother Naeem from Bhavnagar during an early morning operation yesterday.
Police had been keeping a close watch on their activities since last three months, as they were found to be in contact with ISIS through Skype and other social media platforms.
Investigation has revealed that the two had allegedly planned to attack the famous temple at Chotila town of Surendranagar district. They had also planned to carry out blasts at different places and also set on fire vehicles to spread terror.
To create terror, they planned to record and upload the video of the attack on social media.
The brothers were indoctrinated in Jihadi philosophy during the last two years after coming across ISIS literature online. They were also in touch with ISIS' controversial preacher Mufti Abdus Sami Qasmi, arrested by NIA in February 2016.
Police had yesterday said that the duo were held just in time, as they had hatched a plan to carry out bomb blasts at some religious places soon.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content