Ashfaq Abdul Majid, the 25-year-old who fled the country with his wife and daughter on June 2 and joined ISIS, was allegedly brainwashed with promises of “jannat” by Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) employee Arshid Qureshi. An FIR was registered at the Nagpada police station against Qureshi and three others on August 6, based on a complaint from Ashfaq’s father, Abdul Majid Abdul Kader. The case has been handed over to the Mumbai crime branch.

A report in this paper yesterday said Kader blamed Qureshi for radicalising his son, and telling him that he would go to heaven if he left his family. A teacher at a Kerala village allegedly radicalised Ashfaq, Kader said. Incidentally, televangelist Zakir Naik leads the IRF. Naik has been in the headlines lately after the family of a slain terrorist claimed he used to listen to the Islamic preacher’s speeches.