KOCHI: Peace International School Managing Director M M Akbar, who was taken into custody from Hyderabad airport on Sunday, admitted to the police the textbooks which were taught at the school had communal overtones that could endanger religious amity. Akbar, dubbed as Kerala’s Zakir Naik, during the interrogation also told the investigating officers the syllabus prescribed for the students was prepared by a panel headed by him.
Sources said after gleaning information from Akbar the police slapped him with charges under 153A of IPC (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language). “When we asked him whether the book which was taught at the school had contents that affected religious sentiments, he admitted to it. He had earlier also admitted the syllabus taught in the school was selected by a panel headed by him,” said a top police officer. The investigators, it was told, will also scrutinise Akbar’s connections to ascertain whether he had maintained any links with extremist organisations.
Meanwhile, the Ernakulam Judicial Magistrate Court remanded him in police custody for five days despite the investigation officers asking for seven days. “We couldn’t find enough time on Monday to question him whether he established links with terror agencies. During the coming five days, we will question all such angles,” said investigation officer and Assistant Commissioner of Police (Ernakulam) K Laljy.
Akbar is wanted by the police in a case over the adoption of non-secular textbooks at the Peace International school in Ernakulam. In 2016, a case was registered against Akbar based on a complaint by the district education officer the school was teaching textbooks propagating communal hatred. A probe by the Education Department found the school wasn’t teaching from texts recommended by the NCERT, CBSE or SCERT and instead followed textbooks compiled by a Mumbai-based Islamic educational institution. The contents of the Class II textbook had questions such as “if their friend wanted to convert to Islam,” “how to deal with non-Muslims” and “How many of you are willing to die for Islam? Think, think think.”
In December 2016, three Mumbai-based publishers were arrested for printing the textbooks with objectionable content. In January last, the state government ordered closure of the Kochi-based Peace school based on a report submitted by the District Collector and the District Education Officer. The year-long search for M M Akbar came to an end on Sunday.
