Two trips that Nagpada youth Ashfaque Majeed, who is believed to have joined terror outfit Islamic State (IS), took in the last one year are being investigated by the Mumbai Police Crime Branch. Officers said the trips are significant as he made them during the period when his behaviour began showing signs of radicalisation.
Majeed, a native of Kerala, would shuttle between Mumbai, where his father runs a guest house, and Kerala, where his family stays. He left home in June this year and went missing. The Crime Branch registered a complaint under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) against four people last week for allegedly radicalising him.
An officer said the first trip was around four months ago, which he told his family was to Uttar Pradesh. The second one, a month before he disappeared, was purportedly to Sri Lanka. He added, “When asked about the purpose of his trips, he told his family, ‘ mazhab seekhne jaa raha hoon (I’m going to study religion). Both trips were 25 to 30 days long.” The Crime Branch is now investigating if he actually visited UP and Sri Lanka. Immigration authorities have also been asked to confirm Majeed’s destination. Meanwhile, Majeed’s relatives in Kerala have told his father that he had started showing signs of radicalisation, and was verbal about it. Usually clean-shaven, Majeed had reportedly started growing a beard in the last one year, and refused to have social media accounts saying his religion’s tenets did not permit it.
Another officer said, “We have preliminary information that Majeed and the other youth from Kerala were spending a lot of time together, and would call themselves ‘mujahideen’.
A police team will leave for Kerala in the next couple of days to speak to his family members, and those of the other youth.”
The police will also be seeking custody of Arshid Qureshi and Rizwan Khan, already in the custody of the Kerala police, whose names are included in the FIR.
