Mumbai: The Kalyan-based family of Aman Tandel — who was part of a group of four youths who went to Iraq in May 2014 to fight for trans-national terror outfit Islamic State — said on Monday that they had received a call on Saturday night, from what appeared to be a satellite phone, informing them about his death in an “accident”.
It is suspected that Tandel died in an air strike. The family is set to hand over the phone set on which the call came to the police for a probe into the nature and origin of the call.
The unidentified caller, who the family suspects to be a Turkish male, had spoken to Naeem, Tandel’s father, who spoke to The Asian Age. The state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and National Investigation Agency (NIA) have asked the local police to submit a report to them. Areeb Majeed, another youth among the four who went to Iraq, had returned the same year and was arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act provisions.
In Tandel’s case, the police are now verifying the authenticity of the information that the caller gave about him. Tandel is a class XII pass-out and an IT diploma holder whose family resides at Govindwadi in Kalyan. He had left home in 2014 along with the three other youths (Majeed, Fahad Tanveer Shaikh and Shaheem Tanki) to join the ISIS.
His family is in trauma and cannot believe that their son is dead. Many of his relatives and friends came to his house on Monday to console his parents. Confirming the call, Naeem said, “We were sleeping when I got a call on my number very late on Saturday night. I couldn’t see the number, but I took the call and some man said, ‘Your son Aman died in an air strike.’ Before I could ask anything, the phone was disconnected. I haven’t spoken to my son for the past two years. Whatever information we get about him is from the news.” He added, “I think the phone call came from Turkey.”
An officer from Kalyan’s Bajarpeth police station, under whose jurisdiction Govindwadi is located, went to Naeem’s house on Sunday evening to investigate the call after the National Investigation Agency and Anti-Terrorism Squad officials had told them to look into the matter and submit a report in the next two days.
Senior police inspector D Suryavamshi of the Bajarpeth police station said, “We have received instructions from senior officials asking us to inquire about the call that Naeem received. We went to Naeem’s house, but he was so tense that we could not ask him too many questions… We have called him tomorrow (Tuesday) in order to record his detailed statement since we have to submit the report concerned to the NIA.”
