NGO wants Dr M to step in to locate Indira's daughter

The Indira Gandhi Action Team (Ingat) has sought the help of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to locate Prasana Diksa, who was abducted by her father Muhammad Riduan Abdullah a decade ago as an 11-month-old child and has not been seen since.

This is because the group believed that the police were not serious or may not even want to enforce the court orders to return the girl to her mother M Indira Gandhi, said Ingat in a memorandum penned to the premier today.

"The police should have set up a special task force to track down Prasana and to produce the fugitive (Riduan) before the court," said Ingat chairperson Arun Dorasamy in the memorandum.

He said that Ingat was seeking the help of the prime minister and the cabinet "to advise the police to set up a special task force to track down Prasana or be ready to declare 'she is no longer alive' with a definite timeline".

"So, we can sadly add another mysterious case of disappearance to the nation's long list, like MH370," he added.

"If she is alive, please give us reasons or evidence for the conclusion and retrieve Prasana for her lawful and biological guardian mother," he said.

Arun and Indira were at Parliament earlier today to submit the memorandum to the premier. De facto Deputy Law Minister Hanipa Maidin received the memorandum on behalf of the government.

According to Arun, Hanipa agreed to refer the matter to Mahathir. The group also expressed its wish to meet the premier to present its case.

Seeking help from various sources

Ingat had previously offered an RM10,000 reward for anyone providing information leading to Riduan's arrest.

The NGO, which is dedicated to helping Indira find her daughter, said it had sought the help of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after various new leads provided to the Malaysian police allegedly went unheeded.

Riduan took Prasana away and unilaterally converted his three children to Islam in 2009.

A lengthy legal battle between Riduan and Indira then ensued, involving both the syariah and civil courts.

Indira’s two eldest children now live with her, but Prasana and her father’s whereabouts remain unknown.

In February, inspector-general of police Mohamad Fuzi Harun said that information had not been forthcoming from the public, despite various appeals for help made by the police.

In 2014, the High Court had issued an arrest warrant for Riduan, but the police have yet to locate him.

Last year, the Federal Court unanimously declared the children’s unilateral conversion to Islam to be unlawful.