Mehdi Masroor Biswas.(Photo: Indian Police Department)
A man who admitted to running a pro-Islamic State Twitter account has been arrested in southern India, police said Saturday.
However, authorities say Mehdi Masroor Biswas, 24, doesn't appear to have a direct link to the Islamic State or any other extremist group. The Twitter account @shamiwitness was recently shut down.
"He appears to have been only majorly active in the virtual world," Bangalore's top police official, M.N. Reddy, told reporters. Biswas "never recruited anyone or facilitated any such activity in India." He'd also never traveled outside of India, Reddy added.
Biswas is charged with waging a war or abetting the waging of war against powers friendly to India, Reddy said, according to
CNN. He could face up to 10 years in prison and is also charged under prevention of unlawful activities and anti-cybercrime laws, CNN reported.
Britain's Channel 4, which uncovered Biswas' identity, said his Twitter account acted as "the leading conduit of information between jihadis, supporters and recruits."
The news organization said his account had 17,700 followers and his tweets were seen 2 million times per month before being shut down.
Before his arrest, Biswas told Channel 4 that he had done nothing wrong.
"I haven't harmed anybody, I haven't broken any laws of the country," he said. "I haven't raised any war or any violence against the public of India."
The Islamic State, which has seized large parts of Iraq and Syria, embraces social media platforms such as Twitter and YouTube.
Contributing: The Associated Press
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