An Indian-origin Islamic State terrorist, believed to be the masked man in ISIS’, is ready to die for the terror group, his sister said.

Konika Dhar, the sister of Siddhartha Dhar, believed to be ‘new Jihadi John’ in ISIS, said that, she received a message from her brother saying, “I’m prepared for death”.

Siddhartha Dhar, also known as Abu Rumaysah, had skipped bail and fled the UK with his pregnant wife and four children. In a phone-call in October, last year, Dhar said, “Focus on the hereafter and don’t worry”.

Konika said, “I told him from the very beginning when he arrived in Syria and made contact that I would love him to return home and live in our house with his family.”

But Dhar refused to return, for the fear of getting arrested. The identity of Dhar as the masked man, in a recent ISIS video, threatening terrorist strikes on Britain, has not been confirmed by the security services, but Konika said, that the voice in the video, is very much close to her brother’s voice.

Pleading British Prime Minister David Cameron not to use drones to try to kill her brother, Konika said, “I believe my brother is unwell; he needs help and needs intensive care.”

“I think it will be harder for him to make rational decisions based on his current state of health. He has been completely brainwashed…I’m very disappointed in the person he has become, but I still love him because he is my brother. I would rather see him rehabilitated in prison in the UK than dead on the Syrian battlefield,” she said.

Konika further recalls that, Dhar dreamt of becoming a veterinary doctor. He had a turtle, rabbit and hamster at home and helped to look after a neighbour’s cat called David. She said her brother almost wept when the animal was run over by a car and killed. Once he moved away from studies and took a series of retail jobs, his association with a childhood Muslim friend became stronger.

Dhar was converted by his Muslim friend who organized his “arranged marriage” in 2006 with Aisha and helped him to join Al Muhajiroun, an Islamist group banned as a terrorist organisation in 2010. The friend, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was later imprisoned for terrorism-related offences.

By Phani Ch