Stumped by the revelations by a British channel, Channel4, about ShamiWitness, the Twitter handle of a company executive purportedly based in Bengaluru and said to be popular among IS recruits and fighters, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has taken the case within the ambit of the larger investigations it has launched against the IS, sources said.
The NIA is already investigating Kalyan, Mumbai-based Arif Majeed and three of his accomplices in the same case.
Sources in central security agencies said, prima facie, the story seems to be correct, but it is yet to be ascertained if the Twitter handle ShamiWitness was indeed functioning from Bengaluru or whether he was using it as a mask to keep his identity safe with the help of certain Web applications.
The agencies are also not sure if the owner of the Twitter handle was Mehdi Masroor Biswas as cache copies of his other social media accounts have disclosed or if it was his pseudonym. Channel4 has identified him as Mehdi.
The voice analysis of tapes procured from the British broadcaster establishes that the person in question is a Bengali but may not be a hardcore IS supporter or a recruiter as claimed by a section of the media.
"We are looking for him but he may not be a recruiter as is being projected and could be posting this as an act of bravado by an eccentric. Would any terrorist give interview to a news channel ever? There is nothing more to add now," said sources.
Interestingly, contrary to Channel4 claims of ShamiWitness acting as a leading conduit of information between jihadis, supporters and recruits, his blog article, "On al Baghdadi's disobedience of Dr Zawahiri", posted in July 2013, conveys hardened attitude towards IS.
He had wrote then: "I personally read this whole ISIS affair as an artificially created crisis. Jihadist leaders have been so comfortable in Iraq-Syria due to absence of threat of drone-like assassinations, that they have taken the luxury of indulging in what are basically power struggles."
Another giveaway that distinguishes ShamiWitness from a terrorist is when he told Channel4 that "he would have gone to join Islamic State himself, but his family were financially dependent on him and needs him here."
"Any terrorist worth his salt would never say so as he is indoctrinated to believe, like in the case of Arif Majeed, his only duty is for Allah and Jihad and he could meet relatives in heaven," said sources.
The Union home ministry chose to remain tight-lipped.
"It's a matter under investigation. Allow investigators to ascertain all facts first," said a home ministry official.
The Twitter handle ShamiWitness meaning Eyewitness of Syria was active since July 2009 and had posted 1.3lakh tweets in all @ of 67 tweets a day. It had over 1,78,00 followers and its tweets got more than 18,000 favourites.
His tweets were seen 2 million times each month, making his perhaps the most influential IS Twitter account, said Channel4 News. The last tweet posted on @ShamiWitness, before it was turned off, said, "Ya Allah! The Revealer of the Book, the Mover of the clouds, and Defeater of Al-Ahzab (combined coalition forces fought against the Prophet), defeat them and grant us victory over them."
According to Channel4 News, "Two-thirds of all foreign fighters on Twitter followed him. When a fighter's Twitter account is suspended, he often promoted a new one and urged people to follow it."
"He spoke to British jihadis regularly before they left to join the IS, and if they died, he praised them as martyrs," it said.
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