Kerala cleric held for radicalising 12 youth to join Islamic State

Mumbai: The Mumbai Police Crime Branch and the Kerala Police have carried out a joint operation to nab Muhammad Haneef, a cleric who radicalised at least 12 of the 21 youth from Kerala who allegedly joined Islamic State (IS).

Haneef was taken into custody on Saturday after being picked up from Peringathur in Kerala, said reports.  He was brought to the city and produced before a court which sent him to police custody till August 20.

Haneef, who is from Kambalakkad in Wayanad district, is being grilled over allegations of conducting lectures for promoting religious extremism and radicalising youth in his state to join terror outfits such as the IS. The Mumbai Police had earlier named Haneef as an accused and the arrest is an action based on that input.

Read: ISIS recruiter reveals 40 people attended terror group's classes in Kerala

The father of Ashfaque Ahmed, one of the 21 missing Kerala youth, had filed a complaint accusing four people of radicalising his son to join ISIS. Pursuant to this, the Mumbai Police registered a case on August 6 against the four men - Arshi Qureshi, guest relationship manager with controversial televangelist Dr Zakir Naik’s Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), Rizwan Khan, a volunteer with Al-Birr Foundation, Abdullah Rashid, a local imam, and Haneef - under sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the IPC.

Qureshi and Khan had already been arrested by the Kerala Police in July, in response to a similar complaint filed by the brother of one Merin alias Mariyam, who is among the 21 youths who fled the country, said reports. Police said another accused named in the FIR was still at large and efforts were being made to arrest him.

"Haneef is an important link to unearth the IS network operating in India….We have leads that Haneef had radicalised 12 of the 21 youths," a senior official privy to the developments in the case was quoted as saying.