‘Godman’ held for forcefully converting Vasai resident, threatening his family

A self-proclaimed 'godman' was arrested in Mumbra for allegedly coercing a man to convert to Muslim, who claimed he had done it on his own will.

A self-proclaimed ‘godman’ was arrested in Mumbra in the early hours of Tuesday and a 54-year-old man, who the accused allegedly coerced to convert to Muslim, was rescued, police officers said.

‘Godman’ held for forcefully converting Vasai resident, threatening his family

However, the victim, identified as Rajesh Jani from Sai Nagar in Vasai West, told police that he had changed his name to Mohammed Farooqui and claimed that he had embraced Islam on his own will.

According to the Manikpur police, Devansh, 18, his mother and sister approached them on May 26 with a complaint that their father had gone missing.

A few days later, Devansh told the police that he and his family members began receiving calls from a man, identified as Mohsin Soni, who insulted their religion and threatened to harm them with his supernatural powers.

The complainant also said that Soni had forcefully converted his father and tried to pressure them to convert and sent them links about information on Islam. The caller even claimed that he could open locked doors just by staring at them, a police officer said.

Based on the audio recordings that Devansh submitted to the police, an FIR under section 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage reli­gious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or reli­gious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code and section 3 (propagate or practise human sacrifice and other inhuman, evil and aghori practices and black magic) of the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and Other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act 2013 was registered against Soni on Sunday.

A police team traced the mobile phone location of the accused to Mumbra. On reaching Soni’s house, the police found that Rajesh had been staying there and had changed his name.

Confirming the arrest, Sampatrao Patil, senior police inspector at Manikpur police station, said they were verifying his claims that he had converted 400 people, including Rajesh, to Islam.

Devansh told the police that even though his father claimed that conversion was his own decision, they suspected that Soni had influenced him.