The police in Andhra Pradesh arrested a 38-year-old single mother, who allegedly recruited 42 women through IS-linked online groups. The police said Sayeeda Begum, who is also an Instagram influencer, was being groomed to head a women’s terror wing called “Khawateen”.
The Andhra Pradesh Police arrested 38-year-old Sayeeda Begum, a single mother from Hyderabad with 38,000 Instagram followers, for her alleged role in an interstate terror module.
Police said she was involved in online radicalisation and the recruitment of young people across several states, reported news agency PTI.
After nabbing Sayeeda on March 25, the Vijayawada Police uncovered that there were allegedly plans to form a separate women’s wing of a terror outfit called “Khawateen” and make her its leader. The plan was to train women recruits in the use of firearms, sniper rifles, and explosives to carry out attacks across India. Sayeeda, who also worked as a domestic help, is suspected of assisting terrorists in recruiting women into the network, and she had recruited 42 women, according to a report in Hyderabad-based newspaper, Deccan Chronicle.
According to the FIR, Sayeeda was an active member of online groups promoting videos of al-Qaeda terrorist Osama Bin Laden and the speeches of radical Islamic preachers like Zakir Naik and Israr Ahmed. It also noted that the online groups propagated materials and videos related to ISIS and al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).
An intelligence official told the news agency PTI that the group Sayeeda was operating with had links to Pakistani handlers and terrorist groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS). Sayeeda operated with Rahamathullah Sharif, the prime accused, who reportedly was in charge of the group, and his associates, who were also arrested in March.
Sayeeda has denied all the allegations put forward by the police, and her lawyer says she did not create groups but was added to them without her knowledge. According to the police, Sayeeda told them that she had received a link on Instagram and WhatsApp some 7-8 months ago, which turned out to be from a religious group posting videos promoting ISIS.
An intelligence officer told The Hindu newspaper that “Sayeeda Begum is a native of Chanchalguda of Hyderabad. She was deserted by her husband. She was staying with her parents, along with her six-year-old son”.
The India Express newspaper reported, citing an investigating officer, that Sayeeda encouraged members of her online groups to share “jihadi” videos and literature.
Sayeeda lived with her parents and her young child in a modest two-room rented house in Hyderabad’s Chanchalguda area.
“She worked as a domestic help in two or three homes to support her family,” a neighbour of Sayeeda told The Indian Express. The neighbour also described her as reserved and that she kept to herself and rarely interacted with others. “Her mother had once mentioned that she spent most of her time on her phone,” he added.
Sayeeda was married to a painter, and after their son was born, she never returned to her husband and divorced him four years ago.
To support herself and her parents, she started working as a domestic help. She first started making Reels about preparing food at her house.
