Chennai: Though state police had ruled out the possibility of  ISIS sympathiser Mosiruddin, who was arrested at the beginning of July, having any wicked design for Tamil Nadu, his links with certain Sri Lankan operatives, including one identified as Khulla Bhai, has forced security agencies to dig deep into background of such people.

Tamil Nadu in the past had seen Pakistan sending its spies through Sri Lanka, and have arrested at least two Lankans for spying for Pakistan.

Mosiruddin alias Mosi alias Majnu, a resident of Labhpur in West Bengal’s Birbhum district, a suspected member of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen of Bangladesh and ISIS sympathiser, was operating from West Bengal. But he was settled with family in Tirupur where he ran grocery shop during last six years.

After he was arrested by NIA in Kolkata, Tamil Nadu police took his family members in Tirupur for questioning.

NIA sleuths had been keeping an eye on Mosi for quite some time. “He was residing at Tirupur district for quite some time now. We don’t think he had any strategy against TN.  He stayed in Tirupur with his wife and two children and brother,” they said.

“He used to travel to Kolkata on regular basis. The only worrying factor is his contacts with some Sri Lankan Muslims,” a police source said here.

In September 2012, Thameem Ansari of Tiruchy was nabbed in connection with espionage activities for Pakistan’s ISI and Arun Selvarajan, another ISI operative and Lankan native was arrested in September 2014 in Chennai.

In April 2014, another suspected Pakistan spy Sakir Hussian, a Lankan Muslim, was arrested by TN police.