NIA probes IS recruitment bid case

KOCHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has taken over the probe into the alleged attempt to radicalize Kochi youth Abin Jacob (25), brother of Merin aka Mariyam who went missing along with 20-odd persons from Kerala in MayJuly this year. The agency on September 24 filed a first information report -naming Arshid Qureshi (45) of Mumbai and Bestin Vincent aka Yahiya of Yakkara as the first and second accused -in the special court, under sections 153A (promoting enmity in the name of religion), 34 (criminal activity as a group) of Indian Penal Code and 13 (unlawful activities) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

DSP Radhakrishna Pillai of NIA Kochi unit will probe the case under the supervision of SP Rahul S. Qureshi is the guest rela tion officer of Mumbai-based Islamic Research Foundation of controversial preacher Zakir Naik while Bestin is Merin's husband. The NIA has dropped the name of Rizvan Khan (53) of Kalyan, Mumbai named by Palarivattom police here as the third accused in its report. Qureshi and Khan were arrested from Mumbai while Bestin is missing. The NIA report says Qu reshi and Bestin had forced Abin and Merin to convert to Islam and tried to create communal disharmony . The accused also persuaded Abin to join the Islamic State of Iraq and

Syria

(ISIS), a proscribed international terrorist organisation, in August-September 2014 when he visited Merin in Mumbai.

The ministry of home af The ministry of home af fairs (MoHA) had, on September 19, ordered NIA to take over the case based on information its internal security division (IS-IV), Delhi, got from the FIR registered by state police on July 16. It said a preliminary inquiry revealed that the accused had entered into a criminal conspiracy to support and further the terrorist activities of ISIS and thus committed offences specified in the NIA Act, 2008.

The MoHA report also said the case had links with cases of missing youths reported from Palakkad, Kasaragod and Nagpada, Mumbai. The agency has already taken over these cases while Qureshi and Khan are in the custody of Maharashtra anti-terrorist squad for probe into the

UAPA

case registered at Nagpada police station in Mumbai.

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