Telegraph reports ‘New Jihadi John’ is a British-Indian Muslim convert

The hunt for the new "Jihadi John," the masked member of the Islam State who spoke British English and killed five hostages, found that the suspect could be a British immigrant named Siddhartha Dhar (32, pictured).

The British daily Telegraph quoted on Monday a forensic speech and voice expert who analyzed the voice of a member of ISIS in the execution video and said, “The way he speaks and he sounds clearly indicate that the masked man is Siddhartha Dhar.”

The newspaper reported that the suspect was a bouncy castle salesman from London. Brought up a Hindu, Dhar was radicalized after marrying to his Muslim wife Aisha. Afterwards, he played a key role in the illegal Muslim groups such as Al Mujahideen and Sharia Project. His main task was recruitment and propaganda.

Dhar was arrested along with the preacher Anjem Choudary in October 2014 on suspicion of conspiring terrorism, but he was released on bail to head to Syria with his pregnant wife and four children.

snow@donga.com