The mother of the 16-year-old Kerala boy who was allegedly a victim of her attempt to radicalise him is married to a terror convict who was investigated by the NIA, police said.
On November 19, Kerala police from Venjaramoodu, Thiruvananthapuram, had registered a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) after the boy alleged that his UK-based mother and her husband attempted to lure him towards extremist views like those held by the Islamic State (IS) militant organisation.
The boy was taken to London but was sent back when he didn't adopt their extremist mindset, police told NDTV.
He was later brought to an Almiya Academy, a madrassa in Thirvananthapuram, by Siddique, the stepfather, who is a convict in a terror case, according to Ustad Ahmad, a teacher at the madrassa. Ahmed also said that Siddique was married to Fidha Mohammad Ali despite already having a family and being married.
His mother was previously living with Anzar, his brother in the UK, who also held extremist views and attempted to radicalise the teen. He currently lives in Leicester in the UK. The FIR registered by the police describe Anzar as a member of ISIS who allegedly showed the teenager an ISIS murder video and tried to cultivate a hostility to other religions.
According to Ahmad, the teen told him that both Siddique and Anzar had extremist views and that the didn't like the way they were interfering in his life.
"The child told me Anzar has extremist ideology and that he has no interest in remaining in touch with either Siddique or Anzar. He said he dislikes both and that they interfere (in his life) more than his mother. The child said his mother was a Christian earlier," said Ahmad.
Safi Naqvi, the chairman of the madrassa, confirmed that the teen stayed at the academy for nearly two months from July 3 to August 29.
Siddique brought him there and visited him frequently. However, Fidha, the child's mother, never visited the madrassa, claiming that she was in the UK.
"It was a shock for us. We never saw this coming. We never imagined such a situation. Now, I feel the mother was lying to us about being in the UK. We had no clue that Siddhique was earlier convicted in an NIA case. I came to know only two days ago and was shocked," added Naqvi.
The case against the three: Anzar, Siddique and Fidha was registered after the teen’s uncle took him from the madrassa and went to the police station.
Police sources had said that Siddique was earlier convicted in the infamous Kanakamala terror conspiracy case, which resulted in an interception by the NIA in October 2016 in Kannur. The convicts in the case were found to be part of an IS module who was discussing ways to carry out coordinated attacks in the Southern states of India.