In lonely Melur house,mother in dark about son’s arrest in Paris

Soon afterward,Fathima locked her home and left for a relative’s house in another district.

She told a TV news channel that she had come to know about the Paris episode through the media,and had had no official information about the allegations against Niaz and his arrest.

A fortnight after he was picked up by the anti-terrorism wing of the French police,not much is known of Niaz’s background. Local sources in Melur said Fathima has three children — an elder son Jawahar,daughter Banu,and Niaz. Fathima’s husband Abdul Rashid was a schoolteacher who left his job and went abroad some 15 years ago. Fathima apparently lived alone at the house in Melur,and had little interaction with her neighbours.

Niaz,the sources said,is a 30-something software engineer who has been working in France for some years now. His wife and daughter live with him in France. Not much is known about him in Melur; some residents in the neighbourhood said Niaz had not grown up there.

When news of his arrest first came in,the police weren’t even sure if Niaz belonged to Melur. The confusion was compounded by reports that he had obtained a passport from Tiruchy.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa,who handles the Home portfolio,said today that the Union Government had not communicated anything about the arrest to the state.