The Kerala Police probing the mysterious disappearance of 21 Keralites who are feared to have joined the Islamic State (ISIS) have learned that Arshi Qureshi, allegedly an associate of controversial preacher Zakir Naik’s Islamic Research foundation (IRF) in Mumbai, was a key figure in converting persons from other religions to Islam as a prelude to recruiting them into the terror force.
Qureshi, arrested from Navi Mumbai on July 21, and Rizwan Khan, who was allegedly involved in recruiting youths to the ISIS and held from Kalyan on Friday night, were brought to Kochi on Sunday as part of the probe in the case of the missing Keralites. The two were arrested in joint operations by the Kerala Police and Maharashtra ATS for radicalising young Keralites and recruiting them into ISIS.
A statement given as part of a complaint lodged with the police by Ebin Jacob (25), brother of Merin Jacob, a Christian girl from Kochi who had converted into Islam, got rechristened as Mariam and left India allegedly for joining the ISIS along with her husband Yahia, another Christian named Bestin Vincent who embraced Islam, has reportedly indicated that Qureshi was a key figure in the ISIS’s conversion network.
The Kerala Police have got enough information to believe that most of the 21 Keralites who had left India presumably for joining the ISIS had visited Qureshi, said to be the PRO of Naik’s foundation, in Mumbai. These persons had also received religious classes from Qureshi, sources said. The State police had traced Qureshi to Mumbai following the complaint lodged by Ebin.
The investigators have also received information that Qureshi had visited an Islamic study centre in Kochi and had stayed there earlier. It is also said that he had used a computer at this institution for sending e-mails. The police had held extensive examinations at this place recently but could not recover any vital evidence from there.
According to Ebin’s statement, Merin was converted into Islam under pressure when she was working in Mumbai with an MNC. Yahia’s brother Essah, originally Becson Vincent who also had embraced Islam, had married Nimisha, a Hindu girl from Thiruvananthapuram, who became Fatima after converting to Islam. Essah, Yahia – both from Palakkad – and their wives had later gone missing and are suspected to have joined the ISIS.
Reports quoting Ebin’s statement to the police said that he was made to visit Mumbai and meet Qureshi, who along with Yahia had tried to convert him to Islam and force him join the ISIS. Ebin told the police that he had managed to get away from the circle after coming to know of its treacherous plans.
Ebin’s statement said that Qureshi and Yahia had tried to incite him to wage war against the nation. Merin seemed to have adopted extreme religious ideology after her conversion and used to say that she would wield arms if anything happened to her friends, according to him. Merin was later brought to Kerala but was taken to Kasaragod from where 17 had disappeared.
The police believe that Qureshi could have received huge amounts of money for converting the Keralites from other religions to Islam as a prelude to their initiation into the ISIS. Qureshi and Khan were brought to Kerala on the basis of a transit warrant issued by a Maharashtra court which authorized them to keep the accused in custody till Monday.
The Kerala Police team from Mumbai had landed at the Kochi airport at Nedumbassery with the two accused Sunday noon. Both of them have been charged under Section 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Sources said on Sunday evening that their interrogation was progressing at a facility north of Kochi.