Bengaluru police may ask US court for Facebook, Google help

The Central Crime Branch (CCB) of the city police has sought permission from a special trial court under Section 166A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) to send a letter rogatory to a court in the United States to allow them to seek assistance from software giants Google, Facebook and Twitter to access more information and investigate the accounts under which Mehdi Masroor Biswas — the 26-year-old alleged Daesh (ISIS) cheerleader — had reportedly posted pro-Daesh posts online. The posts of Mehdi, who is now under judicial custody, had allegedly radicalised several Muslim youth in India and abroad to join Daesh.

The CCB submitted a 37,000-page chargesheet in the court in June 2015 and has now got the permission to send a letter rogatory to the US for help in further investigation. “Since the main servers are in the US, the investigating agency has sought permission from the court to send the letter rogatory to seek the help of Google, Facebook and Twitter to access the accounts under which Mehdi was operating, his online mentors and followers,” said an official source.

Mehdi was outed by UK’s Channel 4 and was subsequently arrested in Bengaluru in December 2014. The trial and investigation in his case will set a precedent in India since it’s the first case of alleged cyber terrorism in the country.

Mehdi has been charged under Section 66F of the Information Technology (IT) Act for intentionally threatening the unity, integrity, security or sovereignty of India or to strike terror in the people by denying access to any person authorised to access computer resource; attempting to penetrate or access a computer resource without authorisation or introducing any computer contaminant. If convicted, the quantum of punishment can be life imprisonment. Besides, Mehdi has also been charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 for advocating terrorism, facilitating recruitment for terrorist activities and supporting a banned terrorist organisation, Sections 121 and 125 of the Indian Penal Code for waging war against India and attempting to wage war against an Asiatic ally of India.

Mehdi had countered the allegations against him and had stated that his account was hacked by someone.