A RM10,000 reward is being offered to anyone with information leading to the arrest of Muhammad Riduan Abdullah, the ex-husband of M. Indira Gandhi who converted their children to Islam without her consent.

The reward is being offered by the Indira Gandhi Action Team (Ingat), a new action group formed by the Malaysian Hindu Sangam and other Hindu organisations.

Ingat chairman Arun Dorasamy said the public can also donate to increase the sum of the reward, which would be given to anyone with verifiable information on Riduan, who had kidnapped the youngest child, Prasana Diksa, as a baby from Indira in March 2009.

“We have an investigation team to verify the information,” Arun told a press conference in Petaling Jaya today.

Indira, who was also present, said she did not know what else to do as “all the legal remedies are there” but police were still unable to locate Riduan and Prasana.

“I really seek the public’s help. The inspector-general of police has really let me down. I hope with the reward, we can find her,” she said, referring to former inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar, who was the top cop when her case was in the courts.

Last year, former kindergarten teacher Indira won her 10-year legal battle to gain custody of Prasana and also had the unilateral conversions of her three children to Islam by Riduan nullified.

The Federal Court in January last year nullified their conversions.

The two older children have been living with Indira and are being raised by her as Hindus, but the last time she saw Prasana was when the child was a baby.

“The last picture I saw of her was in 2013. I don’t even know if she is alive now,” Indira said.

Ravin Dorasamy, who heads Ingat’s volunteer investigating team, told the press conference that they had received rumours and tip-offs that Riduan had sneaked into Thailand, and that Prasana could possibly be a victim of abuse or human trafficking.

He said Riduan’s passport had expired and not been renewed.

Though these rumours were all speculative, they were distressing Indira, Arun said.

Ravin said the volunteer team, comprising retired police officers and people sympathetic to Indira’s cause, had nothing concrete to verify such rumours against.

Ingat had also tried hiring private investigators but Ravin said many did not want to be engaged formally as their feared backlash over such a high-profile case.

“Only police can verify the rumours. We really want police to form a task force to focus on finding Riduan,” he said.

Besides the reward, other actions Indira and Ingat had taken include lodging a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to probe the alleged collusion within the Home Ministry to change Prasana’s MyKid number, and planning to file another contempt of court order against the IGP to compel the police to find Riduan. – February 23, 2019.