State police chief Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay said they were still trying to locate the 29-year-old suspect and have assured that any investigation into the alleged apostasy case will be conducted in a fair and transparent manner.

“We recorded statements from the suspect’s 64-year-old father and 34-year-old sister.

“According to them, the suspect has not lived in the house, which was recently inspected by the police, for a long time,” Ayob Khan was quoted as saying by the national news agency.

The man claimed in a video, which has since gone viral, to have got a Muslim woman, believed to be his wife, to embrace Hindusim.

Last Sunday, minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (religious affairs) Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri said that police were investigating the matter.

His comments followed that of Ayob Khan’s last Saturday that police raided a house at the Dato Onn housing area in Johor Bahru but the suspect was not found there.

“Police checks found that only the suspect’s father and sister were staying there,” Ayob Khan said, adding that no one was arrested and no items confiscated during the raid.

He also said the case was being investigated by the Classified Criminal Investigation Unit, and that further investigations were being carried out under the Sedition Act, Penal Code, and Communications and Multimedia Act.