2015 Paris attack: French police team in Kerala to quiz man with ‘IS links’

Now 33, Subahani was arrested in October 2016 for his alleged links with the global terror outfit, as also for allegedly planning an attack on foreigners in South India.

Sources in the NIA said the court has granted permission to question Subahani for three days, starting Wednesday. “They are looking at his French connections, while he was with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria during 2015,’’ a source said.

Subahani had earlier told NIA investigators during interrogation that he had received arms training along with Salah Abdeslam, the Belgium-born French national who was arrested in March this year by the French police in connection with the Paris attack.

The NIA has claimed that Subahani fought for the IS in Mosul, and after he got tired of the violence, was allowed by the terror group to return home after undergoing time in jail and extreme torture. On return, he allegedly got back in touch with IS handlers over the Internet, and had gone to Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu to procure explosives for blasts when he was arrested.

According to the NIA, Subahani, a native of Thodupuzha, settled in Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu in order to become a member of IS in April 2015. To further IS activities, he went to Iraq between April and September 2015, joined the terror organisation, and waged war against the Iraq government.

According to the NIA, Subahini was subjected to forensic examination, which revealed that he had radio-opaque material embedded on his leg, which the agency said could have been acquired from the war zone.

Experts had told the NIA that he had sustained injuries on leg while training with and fighting for the IS in Iraq.

Investigators had said that jackets and sweaters of Turkish origin, allegedly used by Subahani during his stint with the IS, was recovered from him. Forensic tests led to detection of explosive residues, potassium nitrate and potassium chlorate in the leather jacket, besides potassium nitrate from one cotton jacket and two sweaters, indicating Subahani’s presence in the war zone in Iraq and Syria, the NIA believes.