KUALA LUMPUR – The police have issued another public call for information on the whereabouts of Muhammad Riduan Abdullah, the fugitive former husband of M. Indira Gandhi.
Riduan, whose original name is Pathmanathan Krishnan, is said to be keeping the youngest child he had with Indira Gandhi in defiance of a court order.
Ipoh district police chief Yahaya Hassan said Riduan, 53, is still a wanted person and has a warrant of commitment issued against him by the Ipoh High Court on May 30, 2014.
“The Ipoh district police is seeking the cooperation from members of the public who have information on the named (individual) to come forward in helping us trace this person,” Yahaya said in a statement
He also said Ridhuan’s last known address was at 10, Persiaran Pegoh Dua, Off Jalan Pasir Puteh in Ipoh, Perak.
Yahaya said the public can contact the case investigator Yap Siew Cheng at 012-9093362.
Riduan and Indira Gandhi married on April 10, 1993, and had three children – Karan Dinish, 22, Tevi Darsiny, 23 and Prasana Diksa, 14.
In 2009, Riduan converted to Islam and also unilaterally converted the three children to the faith without Indira Gandhi’s consent. He obtained custody of them from the Ipoh shariah court.
Indira Gandhi then filed an application for full custody of the children, which was granted by the Ipoh High Court in March 2010, although Riduan by then had taken Prasana away. The couple divorced on August 8, 2012.
In 2018, the Federal Court in a landmark decision ruled that Riduan’s unilateral conversion of the children was unlawful.
Indira Gandhi over the years has been pressing the police to locate Riduan and her daughter Prasana.
In 2020, then inspector-general of police Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador said police knew Riduan’s whereabouts and urged him to stop hiding.
Earlier this month, Indira Gandhi’s RM100 million civil suit against the police and government was allowed to proceed after the latter failed in their appeal to strike out her nonfeasance suit.
She filed the suit in October 2020 following protracted delays by the police to recover Prasana from Riduan.
In her suit, she named the inspector-general of the Royal Malaysian Police, the Home Ministry, and the government as defendants – claiming the authorities had deliberately and negligently ignored a previous mandamus order from the Federal Court to probe and take appropriate action to locate and return Prasana.
Despite an arrest warrant for Riduan issued by the high court in 2014, police have yet to locate him. He was last believed to be living in a neighbouring country. – The Vibes, September 21, 2022
