Ashok Raj Vaidya, the father of arrested Hizb ut-Tahrir (HuT) module chief Mohammad Salim aka Saurabh Rajvaidya, has opened up about how his son was lured to convert to Islam. Ashok Raj Vaidya told the media that his son was brainwashed by one Dr Kamaal who was an agent of Indian fugitive and radical Islamist preacher Zakir Naik.
Mohammad Salim aka Saurabh Rajvaidya was one of the 16 members of the Hizb ut-Tahrir (HuT) who were arrested in a coordinated operation with the Intelligence Bureau and the Telangana Police on May 9. Mohammad Salim was the chief of this HuT module. He was a professor at Asaduddin Owaisi-owned Deccan Medical College in Hyderabad.
After the arrest, the Madhya Pradesh anti-terrorist squad (ATS) revealed that as many as 8 of these terrorists had converted to Islam. ATS had also revealed that three arrested members of this terror module had married Hindu girls and later forced them to convert to Islam.
Speaking on this matter, Saurabh’s father Ashok Raj Vaidya said, “In our family, we allow our children to choose their life partners from other faiths and do not call it religious conversion.”
When questioned about when he felt Saurabh was embracing Islam, Ashok Raj Vaidya, who is an Ayurveda doctor by profession said, “I first observed Saurabh’s activities and arguments in 2011. He began distancing himself from our family functions and religious festivities. Sometime later, his wife also started wearing Islamic dresses. It was then that I tried explaining things to him.”
“I asked Saurabh to leave our house,” he added.
Vaidya further stated that he reported the entire incident to the police. However, the police refused to take any action because Saurabh had willingly converted to Islam.
Saurabh’s father said one Dr Kamaal used to be around Saurabh during his college days. “We later discovered that Dr Kamaal was an agent for controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, and he was arrested. He taught my son Islamic prayers,” he explained.
Wrote to the Congress-led Centre seeking a ban on the broadcast of Zakir Naik’s speeches: Arrested HuT chief’s father
“Saurabh used to watch speeches of Zakir Naik on his computer. I even recovered several Islamic books from his room. Watching Syrian news on TV, Saurabh used to talk about Islam and why they were attacking Syrians,” Vaidya said.
Mohammad Salim aka Saurabh Rajvaidya’s father further confirmed that he had even written to the Congress-led Centre seeking a ban on the broadcast of Zakir Naik’s speeches.
Asked about his son’s arrest, Vaidya stated that he felt Saurabh was not involved in any terrorist operations. He did, however, stress that his family weren’t going to accept Saurabh back into their home unless he quit Islam.
Saurabh Rajvaidya aka Mohammad Salim, a professor at Asaddudin Owaisi’s College, had forced his wife to convert to Islam
It may be recalled that earlier we reported the arrested chief of this module, Mohammad Salim aka Saurabh Rajvaidya was a professor at Asaduddin Owaisi-owned Deccan Medical College in Hyderabad. While some reports identify him as ‘Saurabh Rajvaidya’, a report in the Dainik Bhaskar identifies him as Saurabh Rajvaidya Jain.
In the year 2010, Saurabh converted to Islam. His parents and the community were against his conversion. Later, in 2012, Saurabh’s wife also embraced Islam. Saurabh aka Salim first tried to get a conversion certificate made in Bhopal but when his attempts failed he travelled to Maharashtra to procure the certificate. He later relocated to Hyderabad, where he worked as a professor in the Biotechnical Department of the Deccan College of Medical Sciences. Salim used to give provocative speeches and lectures to brainwash others to embrace Islam and join the terrorist organisation.
In a coordinated operation with the Intelligence Bureau and the Telangana Police on May 9, the Madhya Pradesh anti-terrorist squad (ATS) dismantled a Hizb ut-Tahrir (HuT) module and apprehended 16 people. Officers informed that the accused persons, including a professor from a college in Hyderabad and a computer engineer from Bhopal, intended to foment terrorism and wage war against the country.
