Hadiya's 'husband' was in touch with IS men

NEW DELHI: Shafin Jahan, husband of Akhila Asokan alias Hadiya, was allegedly in touch with two key chargesheeted accused in the terror group Islamic State (IS) Omar al-Hindi case — Manseed and P Safvan — via a closed Facebook group comprising activists of Popular Front of India (PFI)'s political arm SDPI, as well as a popular messaging application, during the months preceding his marriage to Hadiya, an NIA probe has found.

Manseed and Safvan, arrested in October last year, have been chargesheeted by the NIA in the Omar case. The case relates to criminal conspiracy by members of an IS-inspired group to target high court judges, police officers and political leaders as well as places in south India.

The NIA believes it was Manseed and his SDPI associates, including Muneer, a friend of Shafin, and not the matrimonial website waytonikah.com, that brought Hadiya and Shafin together so as to 'arrange' their alliance. Manseed, according to NIA sources, was known to Sainaba, Hadiya's court-appointed guardian at the time of her marriage, through the PFI/SDPI network.


The NIA probe found that Manseed and Safvan were in contact with Shafin, "an active worker of SDPI and a district committee member of SDPI's student wing Campus Front during his college days", on a messaging/social media app as well as closed Facebook group of SDPI activists called 'Thanal'. Manseed and Shafin were not only members of Facebook group 'SDPI Keralam' but also part of its administrative panel.

Shafin was associated with 'Access', a career guidance group based in Kozhikode, as a mentor while Sainaba was with the same group as a counsellor. Muneer too shared this association with 'Access'.

The NIA probe found contradictions in Hadiya and Shafin's claims before the Kerala high court that their marriage was arranged through matrimonial website waytonikah.com. According to sources, Shafin had registered on the website on September 19, 2015, while Sainaba registered the names of Hadiya and her own daughter, Fathima Thesni, on April 17, 2016. As per NIA's report, Shafin's marriage proposal had come through Muneer in August 2016. "During this time, Shafin was in touch with Manseed and Safvan," a NIA officer said.