Bengaluru: Mohammed Shihab – the Indian national, who is alleged to have facilitated the illegal immigration of three Pakistanis from Qatar to India, had abandoned his first wife –Syed Arifa and their now four year old daughter Fathima in Kerala before returning to Qatar in 2013. Shihab is a resident of Pattambi in Palakkad district of Kerala.
According to official sources, his father’s name is Mohammed and his family name is Pattabiram Kunnath. Shihab’s second marriage, to Samira Abdul Rehman (25) - a Pakistani national and the manner in which he had facilitated her illegal entry along with two other Pakistanis into India is now being investigated by the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW).
"The agencies will need time to verify whether they are innocent or were being set up as assets by the Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). They also need to probe whether the four were being supported by someone else. Their biometric details, which they had given to get the Aadhar card will be of help for future investigation and identification," said a senior officer on condition of anonymity.
Shihab was arrested along with three Pakistani nationals - Samira, Kirhon Ghulam Ali, (26) and her husband Khasif Shamshuddin (30) by the Central Crime Branch (CCB), Bengaluru police in the last week of May from a house in Kuamaraswamy Layout in Bengaluru South. Shihab had married Samira in Muscat and she is now expecting a child. Samira, Kirhon and Khasif are from Karachi. The Pakistanis along with Shihab had illegally entered India last year in September from the porous Indo-Nepal border after their families resisted their marriages. "We do not know whether what they have told the agencies is factually correct. Shihab has studied up to Class 12 and he used to work in Palakkad before he went to the Gulf in 2008 to earn a living. He used to frequently visit his home town and in 2013 he married Syed Arifa. A year later, the couple had a daughter Fathima. Soon after her birth Shihab left his wife because of some differences and went back to the Gulf, " the officer said, adding that there were no adverse reports against him in Kerala.
