Pune/Mumbai: The Kashmir police has contacted the Pune police about the whereabouts of a Pune girl, Sadia Anwar Shaikh, who according to intelligence inputs, is suspected to have planned a terror act in Kashmir ahead of Republic Day, said a senior Pune police officer. The Pune police got in touch with the girl’s parents, who denied that their daughter was in touch with the ISIS, claiming that “she is in the city where she was sent for studies,” said the officer. According to sources, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) had in 2015 attempted to de-radicalise her when she allegedly came in contact with ISIS online recruiters. Efforts to trace her on, said a senior Pune ATS officer.
In 2015, Sadia’s parents had approached the ATS after noticing certain changes in her behaviour, which alarmed them, said ATS sources. Ravindra Kadam, additional police commissioner, Pune, said, “Yesterday we received inputs that Sadia Shaikh, who hails from Pune, was in Jammu and Kashmir and is suspected to have planned to execute a terror act in the state ahead of the Republic Day.
The Pune police visited her house and though she is not in the city, her parents have claimed that she is at the place where she has been sent for her studies. Her parents don’t want to reveal her location as police or media would try to contact her, thus disturbing her studies. According to her mother, she is safe and is not in touch with ISIS at all. But she is not at all ready to reveal the daughter’s location.
Another police official revealed that the description received by the Pune police from their counterparts in Kashmir matches that of Sadia. He added that coincidently she was not in Pune and it was most likely that the girl in Kashmir was Sadia.
Vinod Patil, police inspector, ATS, Pune, said, “In 2015, Sadia Shaikh, a minor girl from an upmarket society in Yerwada in Pune had joined the ISIS. A student of Saint Philips School in Yerwada, she had a modern lifestyle but she suddenly started to wear traditional dresses with hijab. Her parents got suspicious and contacted the Pune ATS. During investigation, the ATS found out that the girl had contacted the ISIS through social media. The girl also revealed that she was promised a seat in a medical college in Syria by ISIS.
“Since she was a minor, the ATS could not detain her. They tried to de-radicalise her with the help of local maulavis. Later, Sadia she promised that she would not follow that route again. Now suddenly we have received this input.”
Another ATS official said, “To keep watch on the girl to see if she is again active with the ISIS is difficult. Basically, the ISIS works through social media, How can we tell that she is again working for ISIS by sitting in her house. This process has been pretty clumsy. That is why we could not realise whether she got in touch with ISIS again or not.” When The Asian Age contacted senior officers of the ATS and Jammu and Kashmir police, they refrained from commenting on the issue.
