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NIA judge acquits Zakir Naik staffer accused of radicalising youth to join IS
Arshi Qureshi was a staffer at Islamic Research Foundation set up by Zakir Naik - the IRF was later in November 2016 banned under the anti-terror law - and accused of radicalising young people who joined IS
MUMBAI: The special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Friday acquitted Arshi Qureshi, the guest relationship manager of controversial televangelist Zakir Naik’s Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), who was arrested in 2016 on charges of radicalising youngsters into joining IS.
Special NIA judge AM Patil acquitted Qureshi for want of cogent evidence.
Arshi Qureshi was arrested along with two others, Mohammad Haneef, a preacher from Kerala, and Rizwan Khan who were accused of radicalising Ashfak Majeed, son of a businessman, and 21 other Muslim youths from Kerala to join IS.
NIA did not eventually file formal charges against Mohammad Haneef and Rizwan Khan for want of evidence to prosecute them. But it went ahead with the case against Arshi Qureshi and filed a 4,000-page charge sheet against him that alleged that Arshi Qureshi conducted the meetings to radicalise young people who left India to join IS at IRF’s Dongri centre. The NIA charge sheet added that those who attended these sessions subsequently joined the IS.
The case against Qureshi was originally registered by the Nagpada police station on August 8, 2016, under sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) following a complaint by Ashfak’s father, Abdul Majeed Kadar Khan, accusing the three of influencing his son to join IS. He alleged that Ashfak was in regular touch with the suspects before they left India.
NIA charged Qureshi with giving lectures on violent Jihad to the youth who went to fight for IS and accused him of financing the travel and stay of some of the missing youths.
“The case relates to the indoctrination of… Ashfak Majeed, and his associates, into extreme Jihadi ideology by a group of like-minded youths from Kasaragod district of Kerala and some members of the Islamic Research Foundation, Mumbai, who motivated and radicalised Ashfak and his associates to join the IS,” the NIA said in a statement after filing the charge sheet against him in February 2017.
“Investigation by the NIA has established that the arrested accused Arshi Qureshi was involved in unlawful activities and in spreading hatred against India and was furthering the activities of the IS,” it added.
