On September 12, 2014, Bestin Vincent Francis became Yahiya. The man in his early 20s from Kerala's Palakkad district voluntarily signed on to take up Islam. Three of his associates, including his lady love Nimisha alias Fatima, converted in the next few months. Raids by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on controversial preacher Zakir Naik's close aide Rizwan Illiyas Khan eventually blew the lid off this terror chain.

Rizwan, according to the probe body, was closely involved in processing the documents of conversion to Islam. In all, 78 affidavits, including the ones for Bestin Vincent, Bexen Vincent alias Isa, Merin Jacob alias Mariyam, and Nimisha alias Fatima, were seized from the residence.

Apart from Rizwan, another Naik aide, Arshi Qureshi, was closely involved in active conversion of people from other religions to Islam and radicalising them to follow the path of Islamic State.

A 115-page document accessed by Mail Today concludes that the NIA has collected material to show that Francis and his three associates were among the 24 youths who migrated from Kerala to Afghanistan to join ISIS.

All of the accused were regular visitors to the office of Naik's Mumbai-based non-profit Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) and attended meetings that took place between key Naik aide Arshi Qureshi and the youths.

Qureshi's job was to handle Naik's appointments and emails and he would report directly to the televangelist. Rizwan was a para-volunteer and helped in getting proper matches to prospective brides and grooms, PR manager Maqbool Barwelkar told the central agency.

The NIA in November filed an FIR against Naik and the IRF - which he founded in 1991 - accusing him of indulging in unlawful activities and promoting religious hatred.

MARRIAGE, CONVERSION, ISIS

Investigation revealed that Rizwan arranged marriage certificates for Bestin Vincent (Yahiya) and Merrin Jacob (Mariyam), as well as Bexen Vincent (Isa) and Nimisha (Fatima). Documents show that Rizwan appeared as the guardian of the brides.

Qureshi, meanwhile, played a pivotal role in conversion of all the youths to Islam. The document states that activities of conversion made them follow the path favourable to join ISIS.

The young couples were childhood lovers and they later made a pact to enlist with ISIS together. Nimisha alias Fatima was four months pregnant when she left for Afghanistan. She delivered a child at an ISIS camp in Khorasan area. Nimisha came from an upper class family and was a dentist. But after getting indoctrinated, officers say, she refused to touch patients and gave up the practice completely.

The investigation also found that during 2012-2016, the IRF paid Rs 43.75 lakh to Qureshi from the account meant for foreign contributions. He was eventually arrested by Kerala police for his role in the conversion of 19 people, including some who left for Afghanistan.

'CLEAR LINK'

The report says that there is a clear link between Dr Zakir Naik, Arshi Qureshi and IRF, who have been promoting enmity and hatred between religious groups and inspiring the youth to commit terrorist acts.

With Arshi Qureshi's link to Zakir Naik established, he was already on the radar of police with two cases booked against him. Mumbai's Nagpada police station registered a case (CR No 271/16) against Qureshi on August 6, 2016, on the basis of a complaint by Abdul Majeed, father of Ashfaq Majeed, one of the missing youth from Kerala who joined ISIS.

Abdul blamed Qureshi of IRF for Ashfaq's radicalisation, which led him to join the terror group. India Today TV accessed a copy of the complaint.

Another statement of Nizamudeen TK in August last year states that his brother Hafeesudheen, an ISIS recruit, invited him to attend an IRF function. This is where he learnt about the conversion.

Yet another case was registered at Palarivattom police station in Kerala against Qureshi. The Navi Mumbai resident was arrested in July 2016 for his role in "promoting hatred and ill-will between different communities and forcible conversion of Kerala Youth, who went missing and are suspected to have joined ISIS".

This is not Naik's first brush with Islamic State. A complaint registered in 2015 found Abu Anas, an ISIS-inspired youth arrested from Rajasthan, had received Rs 1.5 lakh as "scholarship" from United Islamic Aid, a subsidiary of Zakir Naik's IRF.

However, he had a regular IT job at the time and was not pursuing any educational course, which has led agencies to doubt the purpose of the "scholarship".

In July 2016, Rohan Imitiaz, a suicide bomber who attacked the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka Bangladesh, had posted on Facebook that he was very influenced by the speech "Every Muslim should be a terrorist", delivered by Dr Zakir Naik.

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