Kalyan youth Areeb never spoke of joining ISIS: Key witness

MUMBAI: A key witness of the NIA in the case in which a Kalyan youth Areeb Majeed arrested in 2014 for terror charges was declared the hostile on Wednesday after he claimed Areeb never spoke of jihad or joining the Daesh in Syria.

The Imam at the Ahle Hadis Masjid in Kalyan who deposed as witness number 16, is the first to be declared hostile.

According to Indian Express reports, the witness denied that his statements were recorded by the investigating agency in 2014 and claimed that only general questions about the shariyat and jihad were asked and not Majeed.

He told during the trial before the special court that he knew Areeb and Fahad Shaikh as they infrequently came to the masajid to pray.

He said he knew Areeb’s father, Ejaz but denied that in March 2014, he had approached to meet him and discussed that Areeb was talking about jihad and Iraq and Syria. “It did not happen that thereafter accused (Areeb) met me and discussed about jihad and told me that, he is going to Syria for jihad,” the witness told.

According to the NIA, Areeb’s father had come to the imam and told him that Areeb was visiting Islamic Guidance Centre in Kalyan run by a man who is ‘highly influenced’ by Dr. Zakir Naik.

“It is not true that his father told me that the accused regularly visited the Islamic Guidance Centre, his interest in jihad, ISIS and Hizrat,” the witness said denying the prosecution’s case.

The witness further denied his father come to him to conduct prayers for his departed soul.

The NIA claims that Areeb, a civil engineering pursuing student from Father Agnel’s Polytechnic College in Vashi, Navi Mumbai allegedly decided to join ISIS along with of his friends from Kalyan — Fahad Shaikh, Shaheen Tanki, and Aman Tandel–were part of a pilgrims group from India to Iraq in May, 2014 when they went missing.

The NIA court has framed charges against Areeb under sections 16 (terrorist act) and 18 (conspiracy) of UAPA, and section 125 of the IPC (waging war against a friendly Asiatic power).

Last year in the month of February, the trial court dropped the charge against Areeb of being a member of a terrorist organisation.