Mehdi Masroor Biswas, a 24-year-old Bangalore engineer held for allegedly running @shamiwitness- a pro-ISIS Twitter handle- was "a source of incitement and information for new recruits," police said on Saturday.
"Investigation shows that this person was interested in radical Islamic thinking," Bangalore Police Commissioner M.N. Reddi told reporters at a press conference.
Channel 4, a UK-based news channel, had claimed that Biswas was running @shamiwitness even as he worked for a MNC in Bengaluru.
"His tweets, written under the name Shami Witness, were seen two million times each month, making him perhaps the most influential Islamic State Twitter account, with over 17,700 followers," the British broadcaster said.
Police said Biswas was mainly translating Arabic tweets into English for @shamiwitness.
He also used to help ISIS recruits with the account and gave them information, Reddi said.
Biswas was particularly close to English-speaking ISIS militants, Reddi said.
The accused has been arrested under several provisions of IPC, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and IT Act.
Reddi said the accused has confessed that he was operating that account for many years.
The account was shut down after the report surfaced.
However, in an interview to a newspaper before his arrest, Biswas had denied running @shamiwitness.
Biswas is a native of West Bengal.
Police said Biswas was working for the MNC since 2012 and was drawing a salary of Rs.5.3 lakh per annum.
Besides police, Intelligence Bureau (IB), Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and National Investigation Agency (NIA) are also probing the case.
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