KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 29 — Police said today that they have been trying to track down M. Indira Gandhi’s ex-husband, who took their youngest daughter, since the Ipoh High Court issued an arrest warrant in 2014.
Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Mohamad Fuzi Harun reiterated that efforts to locate Muhammad Riduan Abdullah, known as K. Patmanathan prior to his conversion, had never stopped after Indira issued a public statement today saying the police now have no excuse to ignore a court order to return her daughter.
“However we failed to make any progress on his whereabouts even after a media statement urging the public and Muhammad Riduan himself to contact the police was issued on 26 April 2016,” he said in a statement today.
He said police have also notified Indira’s counsel of the measures taken by the enforcement agency to detain Muhammad Riduan, in two letters dated 13 June and 20 July 2017 respectively.
Mohamad Fuzi said the police would like to once again urge those with information on Muhammad Riduan to come forward and cooperate with the police to solve the case.
Indira's daughter Prasana Diksa remains with her ex-husband, who took the girl away when she was just 11 months old then after converting all three of their children to Islam in 2009 without their Hindu mother’s consent.
Indira previously secured a mandamus order compelling then IGP Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar to retrieve Prasana and return the child to her mother.
Khalid previously said his agency could not execute the order, citing the jurisdictional conflict between the civil courts and their Shariah counterparts, which also issued an order in favour of Muhammad Riduan.
In a landmark ruling today, the Federal Court voided the unilateral conversion of Indira’s three children to Islam.
The apex court had also ruled that the consent of both parents is needed to convert a minor.
