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From Balrampur to Pune, conversion kingpin, associates suspected to have amassed ₹300-crore properties
₹106-crore bank transactions to be under investigation by Enforcement Directorate after registration of PMLA case
The kingpin of the alleged religious conversion racket, Jalaluddin Shah alias Chhangur Baba, and his associates are suspected to have amassed properties worth over ₹300 crore from Balrampur to Pune in the past few years, said senior police officials privy to the investigation.
Nearly ₹106 crore transactions from different bank accounts will now be under investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the officials said.
The Lucknow unit of the ED on Tuesday registered a case under appropriate sections of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Chhangur Baba and his associates, taking cognizance of UP ATS report for alleged transactions worth several crores in over a dozen of bank accounts operated in the names of different NGOs floated by him and his associates.
“The ATS investigation so far had revealed transactions of over ₹106 crore from these bank accounts in the past few years and they suspected foreign funding behind all these transactions,” a senior police official said.
“Chhangur Baba and his associates had travelled to different Islamic countries over 50 times in the past few years,” the official added.
The official said the ATS investigation into the racket also unearthed links between the kingpin and a court clerk from Utraula.
“Allegedly, the clerk’s wife was involved in a land deal worth ₹16 crore in Pune, with a profit-sharing clause,” he said.
“The land deal’s cost was calculated as per the existing circle rate at the time of purchase but its actual market value would be over ₹200 crore at present,” he added.
He further said though the clerk denied involvement initially, both he and his wife were named as accused in the ongoing investigation.
He said investigation also revealed that two close associates of the kingpin owned three residential apartments in Pune, as well as multiple properties in Balrampur and its adjoining districts.
Further investigation by the ED team is likely to unravel several more facts and properties accumulated by allegedly operating an illegal religious conversion racket, the official added.
The kingpin amassed a fortune within a decade, with assets including properties, bungalows and luxury vehicles, suspected to have been funded through foreign sources, he said.
The kingpin’s fortunes changed after stints in Mumbai and Saudi Arabia, where he is believed to have built his network, he said. The accused later established an ashram near the shrine of Chandaulia Baba and cultivated links with influential officials, including police and administrative officers.
On Saturday, Jalaluddin alias Chhangur Baba along with Nasreen alias Neetu Naveen Rohra was arrested in connection with a case of alleged forced religious conversions registered under sections 121A, 153A, 417, and 420 of the Indian Penal Code and sections 3, 5(1), 5(2), 5(3), and 8(1) of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021 at the ATS police station in Gomti Nagar, Lucknow, on November 16, 2024. Nasreen’s husband Jamaluddin alias Naveen Rohra and Jalaluddin’s son Mehboob were arrested in the same case on April 8 while efforts are on to arrest 14 more co-accused in the matter.
The ATS officials said that the racket allegedly lured poor individuals into converting to Islam by offering them financial incentives and threatening them with false cases. The gang also allegedly used love jihad tactics to convert Hindu girls to Islam.
