Conversion racket: Bail plea of 3 key accused rejected

A senior ATS official said Mohd Saleem and Mohd Idris Qureshi, along with one Mohd Atif alias Kunal Ashok Chowdhury, were arrested on September 26, 2021, for alleged links with the religious conversion racket operational across different states

LUCKNOW The district and sessions court on Tuesday rejected the bail plea of three key accused – Mohd Saleem, Mohd Idris Qureshi and Sarfaraz Jafri – in the inter-state religious conversion racket unearthed by the UP Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) last year, said ATS officials. The trio was arrested during raids in Muzaffarnagar and Delhi in September, 2021 after the arrest of the main operators of the racket from Lucknow and Delhi in June last year, they said.

The trio was arrested during raids in Muzaffarnagar and Delhi in September, 2021 after the arrest of the main operators of the racket from Lucknow and Delhi in June last year. (Pic for representation)

The bail application of the three accused was moved in the district and sessions court. The court of additional district judge-IV denied their bail following the effective investigation and pursuance of ATS investigators and prosecution officers, stated the UP ATS press note.

A senior ATS official said Mohd Saleem and Mohd Idris Qureshi, along with one Mohd Atif alias Kunal Ashok Chowdhury, were arrested on September 26, 2021, for alleged links with the religious conversion racket operational across different states. The trio was involved in arranging and transferring funds to the tune of crores to promote illegal religious conversions. Qureshi and Saleem are residents of Muzaffarnagar, UP, while Atif is a resident of Nasik, Maharashtra, he said.

He said the probe revealed that the trio managed over ₹20 crore from different sources in the name of religious preachings.

The official said Sarfaraz was arrested later from Delhi’s Okhla locality from where the religious conversion racket was operated. The religious conversion racket was unravelled with the arrest of Maulana Umar Gautam on June 22, 2021.

So far, 17 people had been arrested from different parts of UP and other states in this connection. Those arrested were booked under relevant sections of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2020 and the Indian Penal Code, said officials.