Based on a ToI report, Adnan hailed from Etah in Uttar Pradesh and was the youngest of 4 youngsters. The household moved to Delhi in 2022, the place his father started working as a driver with a media home. They later shifted to authorities lodging in south Delhi's Sadiq Nagar.
Initially, Adnan's disinterest in teachers anxious his household. However after enrolling in a diploma programme this 12 months, he reassured them that he would quickly discover a job.
As a substitute, police allege, Adnan started consuming jihadist propaganda on Instagram. “He began consuming jihadist materials on Instagram, which ultimately led him to hitch an internet group, finally drawing him into the Islamic State (IS) community,” an official informed ToI.
It was via one such group that he met one other youth — additionally named Adnan — from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. The 2 allegedly solid a detailed connection on-line round eight months in the past.
“Initially, the affiliation was restricted to modifying and disseminating radical movies on social media platforms,” extra commissioner of police (particular cell) Pramod Kushwaha mentioned. “Quickly, they began speaking with a Syria-based handler, Abu Ibrahim al-Qureshi, who supplied movies, pictures and PDFs referring to IS. Influenced by these supplies and contacts, he finally pledged allegiance to the IS Caliph,” he added.The second accused, Adnan Khan from Bhopal, additionally got here from a middle-class background. His father, Wasan, labored as an accountant for a personal agency, whereas his mom was a part-time actor. He studied initially in a madrasa earlier than switching to an everyday faculty and finishing Class XII. Following in his father's footsteps, he had begun pursuing chartered accountancy.Nevertheless, police mentioned, Khan too was drawn into radical on-line circles. He started consuming extremist content material on Instagram and different platforms. In the summertime of 2024, he was arrested for posting inflammatory remarks towards an extra classes choose over the videographic survey of Gyanvapi. The episode, as an alternative of deterring him, allegedly deepened his radicalisation.
“After connecting along with his namesake from Delhi, they created a number of Instagram channels the place they carried out ‘Dawat' — on-line calls geared toward recruiting people for his or her extremist trigger,” Kushwaha mentioned. “The Syria-based handler additionally requested them to disseminate short-form movies and reels to radicalise Indian youth,” he added.
Police mentioned the duo started posting jihadi movies after including provocative music and captions. “They established a number of pages on Instagram and YouTube, which repeatedly resurfaced after bans, and continued to publish the identical radical content material,” DCP Amit Kaushik mentioned.
Each younger males, as soon as on paths towards steady skilled careers, now discover themselves on the centre of a terror investigation that officers say underscores the rising attain of on-line radicalisation networks.
