A 23-year-old Indian student who traveled to Iraq to join the Islamic State has returned home disappointed, claiming that the terrorist organization made him clean toilets and do other menial jobs instead of letting him engage in battle.
Areeb Majeed was arrested a day after he landed in Mumbai on a flight from Turkey. After being extensively questioned on Saturday, he was charged with terror-related offences by the National Investigation Agency, the country's main counter-terrorism body, All India reported.
"I was studying engineering but lost interest and began thinking about Islamic countries that followed the Sharia," he reportedly told investigators about his decision to travel to Iraq.
In late May, the engineering student left for Iraq with three friends amid authoritative fears that ISIS militants were penetrating India's large pool of young Muslim men for recruitment purposes.
Using Facebook, the four men had contacted a woman named Tahira Bhatt, who claimed to be a recruiter for the terror group. They were instructed to head to Iraq, with Bhatt providing them contact information of representatives who would further guide them from there.
But despite allegedly clearing written and oral exams, the 23-year-old and his friends were sidelined by the jihadists and assigned to labor jobs such as fetching water and cleaning toilets, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.
At one point, Majeed was asked to use his civil engineering education and work at constructions sites, while the other three were asked to play the roles of a car mechanic, an electronics department clerk, and an accountant, Majeed told NIA officers.
Majeed reached a breaking point after a bullet accidently injured him one day. "Only after I begged them, I was taken to a hospital," he was quoted as saying by NIA officers. "There was neither a holy war nor any of the preachings in the holy book were followed."
After spending a week at the hospital, he contacted his family to say he wanted to come home. Apparently, the ISIS granted him permission to leave along with a payment of $2,000 to travel back home.
In the meantime, his father reportedly contacted NIA officers and informed them of Majeed's return.
Tanvir Sheikh, the father of one of Majeed's friends who did not return from Iraq, said he felt betrayed by his son Fahad.
"He had got a job offer from Kuwait with a salary of three lakh rupees ($4,800) but he ignored that and instead took up arms. Now what happens to his future?" Sheikh told the Indian Express newspaper on Monday.
"I feel let down by my son. He had a bright career ahead of him but he took advantage of our love and betrayed us."
Although India's moderate population of 150 million Muslims have traditionally not been drawn into sectarian conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, this case has managed to raise concerns about online recruitment, Agence France-Presse reported.
In September, al-Qaeda had announced a new chapter of its extremist movement, prompting several Indian states to be placed on high alert.
