London: Siddhartha Dhar, who once worked as a bouncy castle salesman is believed to be the “new Jihadi John.”
The 10 minutes long video released on Sunday shows a masked gunman speaking with clear English accent who threatens Britain and taunts its PM David Cameron before execution.
Dhar was born in London in a Hindu family and converted to Islam 10 years ago, lived in Walthamstow in east London, where he worked as a salesman for a bouncy castle company.
Known as Abu Rumasayah after embracing Islam, Dhar travel to Syria 15 months ago along with his pregnant wife and three children under the noses of the security services, in spite of being on bail for alleged terrorism offences.
Family of British Muslim convert admitted that they had watched the video, released by ISIL on Sunday, and noticed similarities between the voice of the masked Siddhartha and Jihadi.
His mother, Sobita Dhar said: “I heard the voice, yes, but I don’t know, I’m not sure of the voice. These are the most difficult questions to answer. I just cannot say. I’m not sure within myself whether it is the truth or not.”
His sister, Konika Dhar, said: “I can’t believe it. This is just so shocking for me. I don’t know what the authorities are doing to confirm the identity, but I need to know if it is.”
As per BBC reports, Dhar was the focus of investigations into the video, which purports to show the execution of five men ISIS says were alleged British spies.
“A lot of people think it is him,” a source said to BBC, although there has been no official confirmation.
According to Raffaello Pantucci, Director of International Security Studies at Royal United Services, the executioner could be from London and well-educated.
Raffaello said: “He sounds a bit like Abu Rumaysah from Al-Muhajiroun videos. From watching him in Al-Muhajiroun videos and this new video he sounds very similar.”