Tightening the noose for Shaffin Jahan, the Muslim youth who in an alleged case of love jehad married Akhila alias Hadia (25), the Kerala Hindu woman who had converted to Islam, two Islamists accused in case pertaining to an Islamic State (ISIS) secret meeting have told the NIA that he had been close to them for the past several years.
Suspected ISIS operatives Manseed of Thalassery, Kannur and Safwan alias Rayan of Tirur, Malappuram, whom the NIA had arrested along with three others in October, 2016 from Kanakamala in Kannur district, told the agency the other day that Shaffin was closely familiar to them and that the relationship was not confined to communications exchanged over social media as claimed by him.
Manseed told the investigators that he and Shaffin were active members a WhatsApp group named Thanal and had been friends for several years. The ISIS duo also revealed to them that Shaffin was an activist of Islamist outfit Popular Front of India, from which several youths from northern Kerala have already been allegedly recruited to the Islamic State.
A team of officials from the agency’s Kochi unit had questioned Manseed and Safwan, suspected members of Omar Al Hindi, Kerala module of the ISIS, on Monday at the Viyyur Central Prison in Thrissur where they are currently lodged. The NIA had arrested them while allegedly conspiring to carry out attacks in the State.
The NIA had submitted the chargesheet in the case regarding the secret meeting of the ISIS module at Kanakamala several months ago. In an investigation held after busting the secret meeting, the NIA had learned that the accused had planned to target several prominent personalities including High Court judges, political leader and top police officials.
The agency’s decision to question the duo was based on the information that Shaffin was an active member of a WhatsApp group that they were using to propagate ISIS ideology. There were also reports that Shaffin had got acquainted to Akhila/Hadia through Manseed and Safwan. The sleuths had questioned them with the permission of the Special NIA Court in Kochi.
The reported revelations of the duo have strengthened the suspicions of the NIA, which is looking into the case of Akhila/Hadia case as per the Supreme Court’s direction, about Shaffin’s antecedents and relationships. The agency had recorded Shaffin’s statement twice but he had claimed that he knew the Kanakamala case accused only through social media.
He had categorically rejected the allegations of having any association with terror activities or extremists. The NIA’s ultimate objective is to find out whether Shaffin’s connections with the ISIS suspects had any side that caused national security concerns. The NIA sleuths are said to have received more crucial information in this regard.
However, the agency was determined to collect maximum possible evidences against Shaffin in the coming days, sources said. It will submit a report to the special NIA Court in Kochi soon and would include the duo’s revelations in detail in the report it will be presenting to the Supreme Court when it considers the Akhila/Hadia case later this month.
Akhila, daughter of ex-serviceman KM Asokan of TV Puram, Vaikom, Kottayam, had converted to Islam and became Hadia in 2015 when she was a student of homeopathy medicine in Tamil Nadu and married Shaffin Jahan in December, 2016. The Kerala High Court annulled the marriage and handed her custody over to the father in May last year.