Kerala: Sister joins ISIS, brother is with NSG

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Brother of Nimisha Fathima, one of the 21 Malayalis suspected to have joined the Islamic State, is an official with the elite National Security Guard (NSG).

Sources close to the family in Thiruvan-anthapuram said Nimisha’s brother Nikhil is with the NSG as a commando and has been serving the agency for the past many years.

Nikhil is Nimisha’s elder brother and both were born out of the first marriage of her mother Bindu Kumar.

Top police sources told this newspaper that the priority of the ongoing probe was to confirm whether Nimisha actually joined the ISIS. “We shall take up further probe only after confirming that aspect,” said a senior police officer.

Reports had said Nimisha had married Easa, her senior in the dental college in Kasargod district, who had converted to Isalm from Christianity.

Ms Bindu said her daughter had left with her husband for Sri Lanka in May this year for religious studies. “I had received the last communication from her on June 4,” she had said.

Meanwhile, amidst reports that a group of Keralites had joined terror outfit Islamic State, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan informed the Assembly on Monday that a total of 21 persons have been missing from the state.

Among them, 17 were from Kasaragod and four from Palakkad as per the preliminary information available, Vijayan told the Assembly.