Mumbai youth goes missing after fight with mother, ATS suspects he may have joined Islamic State

A 23-year-old from Kalyan, Yusuf Akhtar Shaikh, went missing in May 2016, after a fight with his mother. The local police, however, claimed they have no information on whether he had joined the IS

Has another youngster from Kalyan joined terror outfit Islamic State (IS)?

Iraqi soldiers pose with the Islamic State flag along a street of the town of al-Shura, which was recaptured from Islamic State (IS), south of Mosul, Iraq October 30, 2016. (Reuters File photo)

The Thane anti-terrorism squad (ATS) suspects that a 23-year-old from Kalyan, Yusuf Akhtar Shaikh, who went missing in May 2016, may have joined the terror group, said sources. The local police, however, claimed they have no such information.

According to police, Shaikh, a resident of Indira Nagar in Kalyan, has been undergoing treatment for schizophrenia for the past few years. He left from home on May 11, 2016, after a fight with his mother. When he didn’t return till late at night, his mother filed a missing person’s complaint.

“Based on a tip-off, we went looking for Shaikh in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh last year. We checked railway stations, hospitals, children remand home and other welfare homes. We also put up a poster with his mother’s contact number to check if locals had seen him around,” said P Londhe, senior inspector, Mahatma Phule police station.

“Within a few days of our return, the mother got a call from a man, who told her that Shaikh was in danger. The police team went back to Nellore only to realise the man got the number from the poster, and had called in the hope of making money,” said Londhe.

Pratap Dighavkar, additional commissioner of police, Kalyan zone, said, “We don’t have any such information [on him joining the IS].”

The woman had recently moved the Bombay high court, demanding the police look into her complaint and find her son.

In May 2014, Areeb Majeed, Aman Tandel, Fahad Shaikh and Shaheem Tanki left from Mumbai for a pilgrimage to Baghdad and later joined the IS. Majeed returned to India in November 2014.