MUMBAI: A key witness, the father of a youth who allegedly fled to

under the influence of Islamic Research Foundation's (IRF) manager Arshi Qureshi, was declared hostile after he did not support the prosecution case before a special

court on Monday.

The man denied telling investigators he had repeatedly heard his son phone's conversations about Arshi and IRF. He also denied his son told him about Qureshi. When asked by the prosecution, he said, "I do not know anything about IRF, about Arshi." His deposition will continue on October 14. The witnesses' wife had deposed last year and did not support the prosecution's case.

The prosecution had alleged that in 2016 the witness' son had fled the country with wife and daughter to join ISIS. The father, who runs a guest house in the city, had filed a missing person complaint.