Giving a new dimension to the claim of security agencies that 13 Indians have already joined the dreaded jihadist militant group Islamic State (IS) operating in Iraq and Syria, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) has informed the Kerala Home Department that one of them was a journalist hailing from Puduppariyaram, on the outskirts of Palakkad town.
Abu Thahir (24) had left his home here about two years ago claiming he was leaving for Qatar to join his father, who had been employed there for many years.
He, however, had not reached Qatar.
Before his disappearance, he was the local correspondent of Thejas , a Malayalam daily run by the Popular Front of India (PFI).
Sources said the IB confirmed to the Kerala Police that the youth had left for Syria, not Qatar.
A graduate in sociology from a private college in Malappuram, he had no police record in Kerala. His neighbours said Thahir was a gentle youth, and this was a rude shock to them.
Police sources said the IB had informed them about Thahir a few months ago but it was re-confirmed only recently at a meeting the State’s top police brass had with Union Home Ministry officials.
Thahir’s mother and his two sisters said they had no clue about his whereabouts for the last two years.
Police sources said they were unsure whether he was still alive in strife-torn Syria. It is suspected that it was through social media that he got attracted to the IS and established contact with it.
When contacted by The Hindu , Thejas executive editor N.P. Chekkutty said the youth was not a confirmed staffer of the daily. ‘‘He was never on our payroll and no byline of his appeared in the daily. He may have worked on a temporary basis and that too for a short duration,’’ he said.
