A minor boy from Jalpally area in Hyderabad, who accessed banned terrorist websites and their social media groups, was detained by the Cyber crime police of Hyderabad on Friday.
The 17-year-old boy, a first-year degree student, came under surveillance of the Counter Intelligence Cell of Telangana police, and his online activities were watched closely for a few days before he was picked up for questioning. “On Friday, he was questioned at length by the cyber crime team, who came to the conclusion that the youngster is a social media enthusiast who was looking for terrorism-related content online, but was not afflicted to any radical group,” a senior police officer said, adding that the CI Cell shared information to the Cyber Crime team about the boy’s activities. The suspect was counselled for two days, before a case under relevant Sections of Information Technology Act was registered against him on Saturday.
“He is not completely radicalised, but has a lot of curiosity. The boy was accessing a lot of terrorism-related content. His devices were seized to gather further evidence,” the officer said.
According to his family members and locals, there has been a change in the boy’s behavior for several months, another officer said. Initially, the city police thought of letting off the boy after counseling, later they took a call to register a case. When contacted, Commissioner of Police C V Anand refused to even confirm if any case was registered against the suspect. “I don’t want to make any statement about this,” he stated.
Meanwhile, another officer said that the minor also allegedly tried to attract and influence his friends towards terrorism through social media platforms and direct talks.
