India: Bengaluru man confesses to managing Isis Twitter account

A Bengaluru-based man arrested by police has confessed to operating the most popular Islamic State (Isis) Twitter account @ShamiWitness.

Mehdi Masroor Biswas, 24, did not have any direct connection with Islamist jihadists, said the Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore) police.

"Mehdi Masroor Biswas has confessed to the fact that he was operating the @ShamiWitness Twitter account for the last many years. He got interested in the developments of Levantine region consisting of Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Gaza strip, Egypt and Libya from 2003 onwards," a statement from the Office of the Commissioner of Police in the south Indian city said.

"He was particularly close to the English-speaking terrorists of Isis and became a source of incitement and information for the new recruits trying to join Isis/Isil," the statement added.

The software engineer has been charged with offences including waging war against a friendly nation and violation of India's Information Technology Act.

"His Twitter handle had become a source of information for new recruits of Islamic State. He was in touch with the English-speaking terrorists from the terrorist group, thereby abetting them. Although many of his posts on Twitter were translations from Arabic tweets, there were some original tweets which we are investigating," Karnataka's director general of police for L Pachuau told reporters at a press conference.

The Twitter handle created last year had more than 17,000 followers and the tweets were seen more than two million times, making it the most successful of Islamic State's Twitter accounts. It has been suspended since revelations made by the Channel 4 News report.

The details collected by the news report have been passed on the Indian intelligence agencies following the exposé.