The NIA has arrested an ophthalmologist from a medical college in Bengaluru for allegedly being in touch with ISIS operatives, working to develop a medical and a weaponry-related applications to help terrorist cadres and furthering its activities in the country, officials said Tuesday. Abdur Rahman, 28, working at M S Ramaiah Medical College, was taken into custody on Monday in connection with the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) case being probed by the agency, they said. The ISKP case was initially registered by the Delhi Police Special Cell in March, 2020, after the arrest of a Kashmiri couple -- Jahanzaib Sami Wani and his wife Hina Bashir Beigh -- from Okhla Vihar, Jamia Nagar in the national capital.

The couple having affiliations with the ISKP, an affiliate group of ISIS, were allegedly involved in subversive and anti-national activities and were in touch with a member of the Abu Dhabi module of the ISIS, Abdullah Basith, who was arrested in a separate NIA case and lodged in Tihar jail. "During interrogation, arrested accused Rahman confessed that he was conspiring with accused Sami and other Syria-based ISIS operatives on secure messaging platforms to further ISIS activities. He was in the process of developing a medical application for helping the injured ISIS cadres in the conflict zones and a weaponry-related application for the benefit of ISIS fighters," NIA spokesperson Sonia Narang said.