Harjit Masih Escaped ISIS Last Year; Arrested in Immigrant Racket

Harjit Masih is the only one of 40 Indians kidnapped by the ISIS in June 2014 to have returned to India.

Harjit Masih is the only one who has returned to India out of 40 Indians kidnapped by the ISIS in June 2014. (Photo: Siddharth Safaya/The Quint) 

Harjit Masih who had returned to India last year after escaping ISIS in Iraq has been arrested by the Punjab Police in an alleged immigrant racket. A case has been lodged against him under the Immigration Act and forgery. 

In Kala Afghana, a village in the Gurdaspur district of Punjab, The Quint met with Masih and his family to find out more about the 25-year-old’s harrowing tale of escape from Iraq. Forty Indians were abducted by ISIS from Mosul, Iraq in June 2014. Over a month later, only one returned to India – Harjit Masih – bringing with him a horrific story. He said that while he survived, his 39 fellow captives were killed. But, this isn’t what the Indian government or the families of the other 39 believe. They call Masih a liar and insist that the others are alive, and still held hostage by the ISIS.

Watch: Coming Soon: 39 Indians, ISIS, and Harjit Masih’s Great Escape