Perak religious department ignorant of convert’s whereabouts

(NST) – Even the Perak religious department claims to be in the dark on the whereabouts of K. Patmanathan, also known as Mohd Ridzuan Abdullah since his conversion on March 11.

Ipoh district police chief ACP Azisman Alias said Mohd Ridzuan last contacted religious officers on Friday, the day after Cabinet decided that children be raised according to the faith of their parents at the time of marriage, should a spouse decide to convert .

Mohd Ridzuan is believed to be keeping one-year-old Prasana Diksa, despite the High Court granting interim custody to his wife, Indira Gandhi early last week.

It later reported that the Syariah court had also granted interim custody of their children to Mohd Ridzuan two weeks earlier.

Azisman said the religious department told the police they would be referring the matter to the state legal adviser, as the High Court order was in conflict with the order from the Syariah court.

"They have to wait for instructions which court order to follow," he said.

Azisman said police were still monitoring Mohd Ridzuan’s house and his mother's house in Pasir Puteh, pointing out that he was still under police bail.

But police would not arrest him or force him to surrender Prasana Diksa to Indira, he said.

"We will just inform the wife or the religious department," he said, added that the court order was only for the police to assist in the matter.

Perak religious department director Datuk Mohamah Nor Mansor and state legal adviser Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid could not be contacted for comment.

On the failure to locate find Mohd Ridzuan, Ipoh Barat MP M. Kulasegaran alleged that there were parties who were keeping the 40-year-old father in a "safe place" to sabotage efforts to serve him the court order.

When contacted yesterday, Indira said there was no news of her estranged husband, despite having pasted 5,000 posters of him and her daughter in various parts of the country.

"There were some people who also volunteered to put up more posters in Penang," she said.