Delhi Student Accused Of Raising Funds For ISIS, Family Says Charges False

The family of a first-year engineering student, who was arrested from Southeast Delhi and accused of being an "active member" of ISIS by the country's anti-terrorism agency, have firmly denied the allegations.

Mohsin Ahmad was a "radicalised" individual who collected funds for the global terror group and was sending the money from different countries to Syria using cryptocurrency, the National Investigation Agency said on Sunday.

Rubbishing the charges, his family said they will challenge the claims in court. They arrived in Delhi from Patna this morning. Mohsin has three sisters, and his father works in the railways.

"If he was raising funds, he should have had lots of money. The day before yesterday, he messaged me to ask for Rs 4,000 to do a coding course," one of his sisters told NDTV.

"He was very helpful. He used to do social service, collecting donations and distributing food grains to the poor during Covid lockdown," she said.

"The allegations are totally false, we will challenge them in court. He may not even have understood what he was doing. He took two attempts to clear his engineering entrance. My brother is very naive and gullible. I don't think he knew what ISIS was," she added.

Mohsin's mother said, "He came to Delhi only on July 12. He was living in Delhi with his friend and cousin."

He lived in Delhi's Batla House area and was enrolled at the Jamia Millia Islamia university.

Mohsin Ahmad was arrested by a search party of the NIA on Saturday, a spokesperson of the agency said, following a case filed into ISIS's online and on-ground activities on June 25.

"Ahmad is a radicalised and active member of ISIS. He has been arrested for his involvement in the collection of funds for ISIS from sympathisers in India as well as abroad," the spokesperson said.