He allegedly asked the brother of a woman suspected to have joined ISIS with her husband to convert to Islam; the arrest was made by the Kerala police and ATS
The Kerala police and the Anti-Terrorism Squad, Thane arrested a member of Zakir Naik’s Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) in Mumbai. The accused, identified as Arshi Qureshi, is a resident of Seawoods in Navi Mumbai and works as a receptionist.
Police outside the Islamic Research Foundation office. File pic
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The officials raided the residence of Qureshi where he stays with his wife, in Seawoods at 3 am on Thursday. Qureshi was later produced in Vashi court. He is in four days’ police custody at Bhoiwada jail.
According to sources, Bestin Vincent alias Yahia (24) a member of IRF, and his wife Merin alias Mariam, got converted to Islam. Both are from Palakkad in Kerala. Ebin Jacob (25), the brother of Merin told the police in his statement, that they were attempting to forcefully convert him to Islam and asked him to join the Islamic State terror group.
Bestin and Merin are among the 20 who are missing from Kerala and are suspected to have joined ISIS. Bestin brought Jacob to Mumbai and made him meet Qureshi. Jacob has said in his statement that he was taken to IRF where Qureshi told him to get converted to Islam.
On the complaint from Jacob, Palarivattom police in Kochi have filed a case against the two missing people, and Qureshi under Section 13 of the Unlawful activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and Section 153 (A) (promoting enmity between different groups on the basis of religion) of the Indian Penal Code.
Witness detained
A Kalyan-based youth, Rizwan Khan was also detained by the ATS. “We detained Khan on Thursday as we found that he was the witness on the marriage certificate of the Kerala-based couple. But later we released him as he didn’t have any link to their activities,” said an official from ATS.
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