Police raid religious study centre in Kochi

Kochi: The city police on Monday conducted searches at Niche of Truth, an Islamic study centre attached to Salafi Cultural Complex, Vytilla here, in connection with the probe into forcible conversion bid on Kochi youth Ebin Jacob. Islamic preacher M M Akbar, popularly known as 'Zakir Naik of Kerala', runs the centre.
Ebin is the brother of missing woman Merin Jacob aka Mariyam.
The raid was headed by Ernakulam ACP K V Vijayan, who is currently probing the case registered under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) against R C Qureshi (a member of Mumbai-based Islamic Research Foundation founded by Zakir Naik) and Palakkad native Bestin Vincent aka Yahiya, Merin's husband.
Both Bestin and Merin had visited the place several times after embracing Islam. The police said that Bestin used to make email communications from the study centre. " Rashid Abdulla of Trikaripur - another man missing with his wife Ayisha aka Soniya - had also visited the centre. But the visits were long ago that people at the centre could not recollect anything," said Vijayan.
Meanwhile, personnel with Intelligence Bureau (IB) said that Bestin was under the watch of the agency for about a year. However, the youth's s activities were not suspicious . The IB also had information that he met an Islamic preacher from Saudi Arabia in Mumbai.