Majeed, 23, deported from Turkey on an emergency certificate as he had lost his passport, touched down around 5.15am escorted by security officials almost six months after disappearing. His father, alerted by security agencies, met him at the airport before he was whisked off to a secret location in Mumbai for interrogation. Agencies said Majeed had been arrested.
READ ALSO: IB located Majeed in Turkey, aided his return
"Allah ke kaam par gaya tha (I had gone for the work of Allah)," Majeed is said to have told his interrogators when asked why he had run away from home. Majeed, along with Aman Tandel, Fahad Shaikh and Saheem Tanki, all in their 20s and residents of Kalyan, had joined a group of pilgrims headed for Iraq in late May this year, split from the group and disappeared in the country. Soon, they called their families to confirm they had taken up arms for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
READ ALSO: Kalyan youths fighting for ISIS want to return home
Majeed, who called his father recently and sought to be "rescued", seemed to have given the impression that he returned not because he was disillusioned with ISIS, but because he sustained injuries. Sources said he had taken a bullet in his hand and had splinter injuries.
On August 26, Tanki had called his family and informed that Majeed had been killed in a blast at Mosul, a town in Iraq. Majeed's family, that includes two doctors, had even performed gaybana namaz (for the dead when the body is not at the location of prayer).
With Arif having owned up to indulging in a violent, armed fight for ISIS, senior officers of the security establishment indicated NIA may have no choice but to file an FIR and charge him under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1964. Though ISIS is not individually banned under UAPA, entry no 33 on the list of 36 banned outfits covers all organizations listed in the Schedule to UN Prevention and Suppression of Terrorism (Implementation of Security Council Resolutions) Order, 2007. ISIS is proscribed under this provision.
READ ALSO: 'Misled' Kalyan youth may not escape punishment on return
According to a senior intelligence officer, even as anti-terror provisions are invoked against Majeed, there is scope for leniency against the less-hardened ISIS recruits. "This may include three other Kalyan youths, who are also keen to be rescued....even in Majeed's case, a softened approach is a possibility, depending on how the investigation and trial progresses," said the officer. Majeed's family was tight-lipped, but a relative said they wanted him returned to them after the probe as whatever he had done was "a mistake under the influence of extremists" and he should be given a chance to live a normal life.
Arif Majeed's family members during their meeting with home minister Rajnath singh in July this year. (TOI photo)
Though the other three of the missing Kalyan quartet, said to be somewhere in Iraq, are also keen to get back, Indian agencies feel negotiating their rescue might be far more tricky, considering that few would be willing to seek them out in ISIS-controlled territory. Also, there is no clarity on who to approach in the "liberated" ISIS zone.
READ ALSO: Parents of 3 other youths who disappeared now confident of their return
Soon after news of Majeed's "death", information uploaded on a website in Arabic, Urdu and Hindi for a short duration with his photos posing with a gun announced his "marriage" to a Palestinian woman in Raqqa, Syria, and that he had "attained martyrdom".
An image grab taken from a propaganda video released on November 16, 2014 by al-Furqan Media allegedly shows members of the Islamic State jihadist group preparing the simultaneous beheadings of at least 15 men described as Syrian military personnel. (AFP Photo)
READ ALSO: Nab miscreants who radicalized sons, say families
News of his death was proved wrong when he called his father from Turkey on November 20, said he had somehow managed to escape from ISIS territory and relocate to Turkey and asked to be "rescued". His father got in touch with the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Mumbai and sought the Centre's intervention, setting in motion the process of his return. Indian intelligence agencies, with the help of their Turkish counterparts, zeroed in on Majeed's location and facilitated his return to India.
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