Malappuram: The family of P. Safwan, 30, one of the six men who were arrested by the NIA from Kannur over their alleged links with the IS, is in the dark about his connection with the terror outfit. His mother has denied any suspicious move by Safwan though he was actively associated with the Popular Front of India and its political wing Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI). “I only came to know about his arrest after a team of policemen visited our house (at Ponmundam) on Sunday. They searched his belongings and found nothing. The incident has shocked us and I believe this is fate. Nothing more to say,” she said.
Safwan is a designer in Thejas daily in Kozhikode. “He usually comes back home after work and had informed us that he was going for a sightseeing trip on Sunday with friends,” the mother said. A few PFI workers were also present at his home on Monday and they refused to divulge more about his background and asked the mediapersons to leave the place. “He is active in all community affairs and I have found nothing wrong in him,” Abdurahman, who runs a shop near Safwan’s home, said. Most of the local residents preferred to keep mum about Safwan.
But one of his relatives, on condition of anonymity, said that he might have had extreme line of thinking since he was part of PFI activities. Safwan is also active on the social media. According to Kottakkal police, Safwan is the 11th accused in the police station attack case of 2007. Around 130 activists of NDF, the predecessor of PFI, had ransacked the Kottakkal police station on March 21 that year seeking to release a fellow activist who was arrested in connection with a murder case.
