Alleged Islamic State Twitter account handler Mehdi Masroor's police custody extended

Police custody of alleged handler of the most influential pro-Islamic State (IS) Twitter account Mehdi Masroor Biswas was extended by 15 days by a court in Bengaluru on Thursday.

"His police custody has been extended by 15 days till January 2. We had asked for 25 days," Joint Commissioner of Police Hemanth Nimbalkar told PTI. Biswas was presented before the session's court here at the end of his five-day police remand. Meanwhile, Biswas's parents who are in the city from West Bengal met their son and the city Police Commissioner MN Reddi.

Speaking to reporters, Reddi said he promised the parents of Biswas a fair and speedy investigation. "...during the discussion they asked about investigation, I have promised that the investigation will be fair and unbiased, and we will complete the investigation as early as possible," he said.

Biswas was arrested under Sec 125 of IPC (waging war against the Government of any Asiatic power in alliance or at peace with the Government of India or attempts to wage such war or abetting waging of such war), Sec 18 and 39 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Sec 66 of the Information Technology Act.

Bengaluru police had launched a manhunt for Biswas after Britain's Channel 4 News had aired the report on the presence of ISIS Twitter Ideologue @ShamiWitness here and arrested him from a rented one-room apartment in Bengaluru on Saturday.