Mulund student goes missing; he could've been radicalised, suspect cop

Jagdish Parihar was spotted chatting with a woman on social media a couple of times before his disappearance

'I'm unhappy with Hinduism, I want to convert to Islam.' These are the last words of Jagdish Parihar, 23, before he disappeared on Tuesday. His family suspects a woman might be involved, and, worse, that she may have radicalised him. Police sources said he was last spotted at the international airport, and fear he may have left the country.

Jagdish left his home in Mulund around 1.30 pm on Tuesday, telling his family that he had to go to Mumbai University to fill some forms for his BCom course (third year). He has been missing since then.

His brother, Bhavesh Parihar told the police, "Parihar called us around 7.30 pm and said he was unhappy with Hinduism, and that he wished to join Islam. He also told us that he would not come home again."

Honeytrap?
Fearing that he had been radicalised, the family informed the Mulund police about Jagdish's disappearance. The Mulund cops have taken serious note of the missing complaint, and have also alerted the Anti-Terrorism Squad. They suspect that the youth may have been honeytrapped by a woman.

His family members told the police that since a couple of months, they had observed that Jagdish would be busy chatting on Facebook and other social media. They also revealed that they had seen him chatting with a woman a couple of times. They suspect this mystery woman might have radicalised him.

While the family refused to comment on the matter, Shripad Kale, senior inspector at the Mulund police station, said, "We have received a complaint from his brother, who said Jagdish was chatting with a woman who was probably Muslim. The missing student has deleted his Facebook account and formatted his computer. He was using a PC in the optic shop he runs in Mulund. We are searching for him."

May have left country
Preliminary investigations have revealed that Jagdish was at the Mumbai international airport, leading cops to suspect that he might left the country. They are trying to determine where he could have gone.

An officer from Mulund police station said, "Before leaving home, he formatted his laptop and removed all clues, so that no one could track him or his activities. We tracked his last location to the international airport. We are searching for him and gathering information."

Also Read: Mumbra terror suspect radicalised 12 youths across India in 6 months

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