A day after Arshi Qureshi, an employee of Dr Zakir Naik’s Islamic Research Foundation, was arrested by the ATS, mid-day caught up with his wife at their rented apartment in Nerul, who claimed her husband was being framed
A day after Arshi Qureshi, an employee of Dr Zakir Naik’s Islamic Research Foundation, was arrested by the ATS, mid-day caught up with his wife at their rented apartment in Nerul. "My husband is not 100 but 1,000 per cent innocent. He has been framed but I have faith in the judicial system. My husband works in the IRF but I am not aware of his work. None of us have ever visited Kerala and I have never met Dr Zakir Naik," she said from behind a closed door.
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Police outside the Islamic Research Foundation office
The 30-year-old woman is the second wife of Qureshi, who is in police custody at Bhoiwada jail.
"Just like the sun rises in the east, my husband is innocent," she added.
American wife
After doing a course in hotel management from the city two decades ago, Arshi had ventured to USA in search of work. There he met an American woman, whom he later married. They had two children but the marriage could not last beyond ten years because "she left me for financial crisis," said Qureshi to the investigators.
Five years back he married the present wife, who is 15 years younger than him. They have a son and have been living in a rented accommodation in Navi Mumbai since the past four months. Qureshi, a member of controversial preacher Zakir Naik’s Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), was arrested by the Kerala police and the Anti-Terrorism Squad on Thursday for attempting to convert a Kerala-based man to Islam.
IRF says
Meanwhile, IRF did acknowledge that Qureshi worked with them and indicated that he is not involved in any forced conversion.
"He (Qureshi) is employed at IRF as a Guest Relations Manager, and as a part of his role, he meets several people. Dr Zakir Naik and IRF have repeatedly condemned ISIS for being anti-Islamic. It is unthinkable to assume that a staff of IRF will ever encourage anyone to join ISIS. According to Dr Naik, AISIS is Anti Islamic State of Iraq and Syria who wrongly calls itself ISIS. IRF was never involved in forced conversions. It is a research body and publishes literature on Islam," said the spokesperson.
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