ATS gives clean chit to 2 youths in IS case

Mateen Hafeez





Mumbai: The Maharashtra ATS has given a clean chit to Aaves Shaikh, a Madhya Pradesh resident, and Arshad Faisal from Saharanpur in UP, who were questioned for their alleged links to the terror outfit Islamic State (IS).

The state ATS summoned the two youths after their names emerged during investigations in the case of Parvez Tambe who has allegedly left India to join the IS.

Shaikh, who is from Khargone in MP , and Faisal were brought to Mumbai for questioning. While Shaikh as completed his BTech (electronics and relecommunications) and M Tech (thermal engineering) from Pune's MIT, Faisal, an engineer by profession, is a school teacher.

“They are free. We questioned and released them,“ Atulchandra Kulkarni, state ATS chief told TOI. An ATS source said the two youths were questioned thoroughly and were allowed to leave when the cops found they had nothing to do with the terror outfit or its activities.The ATS, as part of its investigation, scanned the duo's call data records, laptops and email accounts before giving them a clean chit.

Shaikh came under the radar after he lost his purse at Khandwa railway station in Madhya Pradesh. The wallet had a SIM card that was later used to upload a video on the Internet.

The Times of India, May 13, 2017

Family yet to recover from shock of losing 5 members to IS

Mateen Hafeez I TNN

Four Adults & An Infant Among 10 From Kerala Who Left In June 

Mumbai: Twenty-six-yearold Ashfaque Ahmed's extended family is in much more trauma than meets the eye. It is the only family so far to lose five of its members, including a one-and-a-half-year-old girl, to the Islamic State (IS). Ashfaque's family had no inkling as he along with wife and infant daughter, his cousins Mohammed Siraj (22) a businessman and Dr Ejaz Rehman (30), a medical practitioner, left the country together in June.
“This is shocking. Four members of an extended family were inclined to join the banned outfit. We are questio ning preacher Mohammed Haneef, now in crime branch custody , about his role in instigating Ashfaque and others to join IS,“ said a crime branch officer.

In the last week of June, Ashfaque's youngest brother received a message on his mobile from him, saying he had migrated to the IS territory and did not want to come back. “Take care of mother and father,“ read the last line.

His father Abdul Majeed filed an FIR with Nagpada police on August 6, naming Haneef, Abdur Rasheed, a Kerala school teacher (who travelled to Syria with Ashfaque), Navi Mumbai resident Arshi Qureshi and Kalyan resident Rizwan Khan as the ones who “instiaged his son to join IS.“
In the FIR, Majeed stated he belongs to the Barveli sect of Muslims. “However, my son was inclined towards the Ahl e-Hadees sect and converted to it in 2014. He got married in April 2014 and we were in the dark. Ashfaque informed us about his marriage later,“ said Majeed, 60, who owns seve ral guest houses in Mumbai.Majeed has two sons and a daughter. Ashfaque, a commerce graduate, is the eldest.

It is still not clear if Ashfaque took his wife out of India forcibly or if she went with him on her own. But in March-April this year, Ashfaque and his wife went to Sri Lanka for religious education. In 2014, there were visible changes in Ashfaque, Majeed told police. “He stopped listening to music, watching television, changed his clothing style and started sporting a beard. The drastic changes and the people he met had the family worried,“ Majeed said in his statement. Ashfaque would mostly be in the company of his cousins, Rehman and Siraj, and no one doubted their conversations.
While Majeed blamed Ha neef for “brainwashing“ his son, the Mumbai crime branch has not yet found clinching evidence to establish that Haneef sent Ashfaque out of the country .

A source told TOI, “Majeed bought a flat worth over Rs 1.25 crore in the western suburbs for Ashfaque as he wanted him to settle here and look after his business. The day Ashfaque came to see the flat, he inquired about its mode of payment. When Majeed said he had taken 40% of the amount on loan, Ashfaque refused to enter the flat saying he would not stay at a place which was bought with the help of a bank's `interest' money .“

Police sources said Haneef did admit that Ashafque and his cousins would meet him in Kerala. Rehman, who runs a clinic in Kerala, often met Qureshi when the latter visited Padne village. Majeed told police whenever Ashfaque visited Mumbai he would meet Qureshi and Khan. “We are interrogating Haneef and will soon take custody of Qureshi and Khan from the Kerala police. We are going through all records and it is too early to comment,“ said Sanjay Saxena, joint commissioner of police, crime branch.

The Times of India, August 22, 2016

Police say Zakir Naik got Rs 60cr in 3 years from abroad

Mateen Hafeez





He Then Moved Entire Sum To Kin's Bank ACs 

Mumbai: A total of Rs 60 crore was deposited in controversial televangelist Zakir Naik's bank account in the last three years from three different countries, a Mumbai police investigation has found. The money was transferred to five accounts belonging to Naik's family members, a police officer who did not wish to be named said. Police sources said they had probed the money angle and found details of all transactions.“We still don't know what this money was meant for. We have made an inquiry and found the money trail. The money was transferred to family members' accounts,“ said the officer.
The account, the officer made clear, does not belong to Naik's Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) but is his own.
Police are looking into the financial transactions of Naik and the IRF . However, they are yet to question IRF officials.“We may question them about the source of income, the connection between the depositors and Naik,“ said the officer.
A decision on whet her to initiate action ag ainst Naik's two NGOs under the Foreign Cont ributions (Regulation) Act 2010 is yet to be taken. The Union home ministry is examining possible FCRA violations by IRF and IRF Educational Trust, both registered as “educational“ NGOs under FCRA but reportedly receiving and utilising foreign funds for “religious and religion-linked“ activities. A source close to Naik ho wever said, “There is no illegal transaction. The money came into the bank account, and all the records of IRF have been cleared till 2015 by the income-tax department. Whatever money came is in white and all the records are maintained. This also helps the country's foreign exchange to grow.“

Mumbai police are also probing the accounts of an international school run by Naik. A police inquiry report, submitted to commissioner D D Padsalgikar recently , was compiled after going through the bank statements and money transfers, sources said.

TOI had on Wednesday reported that the Maharashtra government is all set to book Naik for promoting religious enmity . The tele-preacher has been under the scanner after a probe into the July 1 Dhaka at tack revealed two of the attackers were inspired by him.

Last month, Kerala police registered a case of forcible conversion against Arshi Qu reshi and Rizwan Khan and arrested the two. Qureshi was in the past attached to the IRF .Mumbai police on August 6 registered a case against four per sons, including Khan and Qureshi, for allegedly radicalizing Ashfaque Abdul Majeed, 22, a Kerala resident, and instigating him to join the IS.

Dr Zakir Naik

The Times of India, August 11, 2016

Afghan link had studied in Thane college

Mateen Hafeez



Mumbai:The Afghan national, who was the link between the four Kalyan youths who joined IS, and their Kuwaiti financier, had studied in a Thane college. Abdul Rehman Daulati (27), a suspected recruiter for the IS, earlier studied engineering in Kalsekar College. In October 2014, Kalyan's Bazar Peth police registered a case against four people, including Daulati, another Afghan national Ahmed Husseinzade, Kalyan-based fruit merchant Aadil Dolare and Govind Thapa, manager of Raja Hotel in Kalyan, for violating rules on a foreigner's stay in India. Police said the duo stayed in the lodge though their documents mentioned a different address. The probe was taken over by the ATS. The purpose of Husseinzade's entry into India is still not clear.

At the time of the FIR, police were unaware Daulati was an IS recruiter. His name cropped up again only after Areeb Majeed, a Kalyan youth who joined IS, returned to India and was arrested. Majeed told police Daulati gave them the number of Abdullah Hadi El-Enezi, a Kuwaiti who sent them money to reach Syria.
In 2013, Daulati came to Kalyan for a few days, married a 17-year-old girl from the area and returned to Afghanistan.The girl is in touch with her parents over phone, said an ATS officer and cops ruled out a human trafficking angle. “Importantly , he already has a wife in Afghanistan,“ the officer said.
Both the Afghan nationals had come to Kalyan on Dolare's invitation, who had given an undertaking stating they would stay at his place.


The Times of India, August 7, 2016

Kuwaiti held for funding IS men from Kalyan





A 32-year-old man has been arrested in Kuwait for arranging funds for the travel of four Kalyan youths from Iraq to Syria to join the IS in May 2014, reports Mateen Hafeez. Abdullah Hadi Al-Enezi, the first foreigner arrested on details provided by the NIA, gave Areeb Majeed, Fahad Shaikh, Aman Tandel and Shaheem Tanki $1,000 after the group ran out of funds in Baghdad. Al-Enezi is learned to have admitted to “terror financing".

 

The Times of India, August 7, 2016