Kerala: National Investigation Agency nabs youth for forcible conversion

Kochi: The sleuths of National Investigation Agency (NIA) is learnt to have taken into custody the main accused in the forcible conversion case in which a 25-year old woman from Pathanamthitta was taken to Syria with the intention of selling her to Islamic State. According to sources, Muhammed Riyaz Rasheed, the husband of the victim, was held from the Chennai airport on Friday morning. “He arrived from Jeddah via Colombo. We acted on a tip-off,” sources said.

The Kochi Unit of the NIA took over the case from state police on January 28 last. As per the case, the victim met Riyas while studying in Bengaluru in 2014 and had a relation with him. The latter allegedly forced her to have sex with him and filmed it secretly. He then began to threaten her and forced to marry him. Though her parents took her with them, Riyas filed a Habeas Corpus before the High Court. She was left with him and the two flew to Saudi Arabia.

There he forced her to join a madrasa and allegedly made her watch videos of Islamic preacher Zakir Naik. The victim approached High Court last year seeking an NIA probe against Riyas for “attempting to take her to Syria and sell her to the Islamic State terrorists as a sex slave”. Currently there are 10 accused persons in the case of which two were arrested.