MALAPPURAM: The Malappuram police have drawn flak after they sent a proxy mail to the media last week saying that a 23-year-old youth from Ponmala in the district had joined the Islamic State. The e-mail had claimed that the family of the youth had received a message from him through Telegram app that he had “joined holy men and would die soon” without mentioning the exact location where he landed. However, the family claimed that they had only registered a man-missing case at the Malappuram police station and denied having received any messages confirming that he had joined the IS. The police have confirmed that they had sent the proxy mail to the media as a tactic to help the investigation.
The investigation team from Malappuram led by Sub-Inspector B.S. Binu has found that the youth had flown to Iran on a tourist visa for a month from Hyderabad. “We have found that he had flown to Iran with valid visa and Indian passport from Hyderabad. The visa is found valid up to September 17. This is just a missing case but we suspect terror link behind the incident,” Mr Binu said.
The investigation will be intensified if he doesn’t turn up even after the end of his visa term. Arrangements have been made to nab him at any point of entry/exit in Iran or India, he said.
District police chief Debesh Kumar Behera said that the youth’s alleged connection with the terror outfit was yet to be confirmed. “Our suspicion is that the youth might have moved to Turkey of Afghanistan where the IS operatives are active. Only central agencies can confirm this,” Mr Behera told DC. According to the family, the youth, M. Tech student in a Tamil Nadu college, went to Hyderabad, where he completed coaching for engineering entrance test last month to meet friends. There was no information about him since August 17. The family later came to know that he had flown to Iran to visit historical places without informing the family. His father is an employee with the government of UAE. “He completed schooling and graduation in the UAE and has no connection with any suspicious organizations,” a relative told DC on condition of anonymity.
