KOCHI: A Kannur native who allegedly forcibly converted a woman and married her before trying to sell her to the Islamic State (IS) was taken into custody from Chennai by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday.
Muhammad Riyas Rasheed, who is the first accused in the forced conversion case, was intercepted from Chennai airport three days after the NIA took over the probe.“Riyas arrived from Jeddah via Colombo. We had information about his arrival and intercepted him. We are interrogating him at our office in Chennai. The interrogation is about the allegation raised by the complainant about him and his suspected links with the IS. His arrest has not been recorded,” an NIA officer said.
The NIA will bring Riyas to Kochi on Saturday. “If we find evidence against him, his arrest will be recorded and will be produced before the court on the same day,” he said.The 25-year-old complainant — who hails from Ranni, Pathanamthitta, and lives in Gujarat — had alleged that Riyas had lured her, raped her, recorded her objectionable photos and videos on his cell phone and threatened her into becoming a disciple of Islamic preacher Zakir Naik.
The woman alleged that Riyas forcibly converted her to Islam, married her through deceit by forging documents, created a fake passport, illegally confined and threatened her in Kerala before taking her to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in August 2017 in an attempt to sell her to the IS.She also alleged that Riyas was assisted by some associates and received funds for all the illegal activities.
She approached the Kerala High Court in December 2017, seeking an NIA investigation in the case.
The other accused are Nahas Abdulkhader, Muhammed Nazish, Safal, Abdul Muhasin, Danish Najeeb, Gazila, Fawas Jamal, Moin Patel, Iliyas Mohammed and Siyad.Fawas and Siyad were arrested by the Kerala Police in December before the NIA took over the investigation.